India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission is now into its final phase.

BBC News reports that on Thursday, the spacecraft’s lander detached from the propulsion module which carried it close to the moon.

Chandrayaan-3 may not be the first to reach the south pole if it’s beaten by Russia’s Luna-25 which was launched last week.

The Indian mission is set to land on August 23rd but BBC News says Luna-25 is expected to land a day or two earlier.

However, India’s space agency told the BBC that it is not a race and the two nations will have a new ‘meeting point’ on the Moon.