India successfully launches rocket for moon mission

India's space agency launched a rocket on Friday that will attempt to land a spacecraft at the lunar south pole, an unprecedented feat that would advance the country's position as a significant space power.

Television footage showed the Indian Space Research Organisation's launch rocket blast off from the country's main spaceport in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, leaving behind a plume of smoke and fire. The Chandrayaan-3 mission is designed to deploy a lander and rover near the moon's south pole around 23 August.