Posted on behalf of Ashley Yeager

The tricolour of India became only the fourth flag to reach the moon when Chandrayaan-1’s Moon Impact Probe crashed into the lunar surface today.

Joining the flags of the US, the former Soviet Union and the European Union, India’s own was painted in miniature on each side of the 35-kilogram probe that impacted the Moon 25 minutes after being launched from Chandrayaan 1.

The Indian Space Research Organization described the event a “perfect operation,” according to the Times of India. The Indian-built probe now resides in a crater at the Moon’s south pole, and its three instruments will be used to test the technologies necessary for future landing missions.

Remaining aboard Chandrayaan-1 are ten other instruments that mission scientists will begin to bring online as India’s first unmanned spacecraft mission to the Moon continues. The spacecraft launched on October 22 and is on a two-year orbital mission to provide a detailed map of the topographical, mineral, and chemical features of the Moon’s surface.