From New York Times, I'm Michael Barrow. This is a daily.

Last week, when India landed a spacecraft on the Moon, it revealed just how much the

international space race has changed.

Today, I speak with my colleague, Kenneth Chang, about why a new set of players is dominating

that race, and what is motivating their groundbreaking missions to the Moon.

It's Monday, August 28th.

Kenneth, I wonder if you can just describe the t-shirt you're wearing.

I just happened to be wearing my NASA t-shirt. It was from 2018 when it was the sixth anniversary

of NASA.

You just happened to be wearing that?

Yeah.

I wasn't even looking.

Is it possible your NASA t-shirt is in very frequent circulation on your body?

I probably should change more often, yes.

Can I want to start by asking you to describe this moment that unfolded out there in space

last week?

India had this robotic space probe in orbit around the Moon, and last week, it took the

momentous last step and attempting to land it on the Moon near the South Pole.

After arriving in lunar orbit, it's sort of been slowly changing its orbit to get ready

for this landing, and on what was Wednesday morning for me, it started firing its engines

for the last time.

At this point, it's slowing down and falling to the Moon.

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