On August 23, India became only the fourth nation ever to land on the moon. With this, India cemented its place as a global powerhouse in the world’s space race. The success erases Chandrayaan-2’s landing failure, highlighted further by Russia failing to land its own module just ahead of our feat. But why is the history-setting landing at the lunar south pole so difficult—and important? We decode the nuances of what has been one of the greatest milestones in the history of our nation.