New Delhi: India's latest space mission entered the Moon's orbit on Saturday ahead of the country's second attempt at a lunar landing, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.
"Chandrayaan-3 has been successfully inserted into the lunar orbit," The ISRO wrote on Facebook.
India’s Chandrayaan-3 lifted off sucessfully from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota on July 14.
If successful, the mission will make India the fourth country to achieve a controlled landing on the moon, after Russia, the United States, and China.
The moon lander Vikram is perched on a Mark 3 heavy-lift launch vehicle — dubbed the Bahubali rocket.
The rocket is nicknamed as `Bahubali’ as like the well built hero in the successful film lifting a heavy Lingam, the rocket carries the 3.8-tonne Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft.
The journey from Earth to the moon for the spacecraft is estimated to take about a month and the landing is expected on August 23. Upon landing, it will operate for one lunar day, which is approximately 14 Earth days. One day on the Moon is equal to 14 days on Earth.
The Chandrayaan-3 will have three major components — a lander, a rover, and a propulsion model. It will be using the Orbiter from Chandrayaan-2 which still exists in the lunar atmosphere.
