India launches spacecraft to study the sun after landing near moon’s south pole

The screengrab from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Youtube channel shows the Aditya-L1 spacecraft lifts off on board a satellite launch vehicle from the space center in Sriharikota, India, Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023. (Indian Space Research Organisation via AP)

India has launched its first space mission to study the sun, less than two weeks after a successful uncrewed landing near the south polar region of the moon.

The Aditya-L1 spacecraft took off on board a satellite launch vehicle from the Sriharikota space centre in southern India on a quest to study the sun from a point about 930,000 miles from Earth, known as L1.