An Indian probe landed on the moon on Friday, the Indian Space Research Organisation announced, in a milestone for the country's 45-year-old space programme.
The probe touched down on the moon at 8:34pm (1504 GMT), 25 minutes after it was ejected from an unmanned spacecraft orbiting the moon.
During its descent from Chandrayaan-1 an onboard video camera transmitted lunar pictures to the ISRO command centre.
Scientists monitoring the probe cheered as ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair announced the success of the country's first lunar mission, which began on October 22 when a rocket transported Chandrayaan-1 into space.
The probe, carrying three instruments and with the Indian flag painted on its outer panes, settled in a crater in the moon's south pole.
Nair said the landing was perfect.
"We have now successfully put our national flag on the lunar surface," he told a news conference.
"The moon has been very favourable to us and this is a very productive and fruitful mission," he said, and added: "We have also emerged as a low-cost travel agency to space," referring to the mission's 80-million dollar tag.
Chandrayaan-1 is on a two-year orbital mission to provide a detailed map of the mineral, chemical and topographical characteristics of the moon's surface.
Buoyed by its success, ISRO plans to send a second unmanned spacecraft to the moon in 2012 and separately launch satellites to study Mars and Venus.
India started its space programme in 1963, developing its own satellites and launch vehicles to reduce dependence on overseas agencies.
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