Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Saturday evening said the country’s third moon mission Chandrayaan-3 was successfully inserted into the lunar orbit.
“Chandrayaan-3 has been successfully inserted into the lunar orbit,” ISRO in a brief statement posted on social media said. “A retro-burning at the Perilune was commanded from the Mission Operations Complex (MOX), ISTRAC, Bengaluru.”
Perilune is the point at which a spacecraft in lunar orbit is closest to the moon.
ISRO said the next operation – reduction of orbit – is scheduled for Sunday at around 11:00 p.m. local time.
The space agency also shared a message from the satellite to its centers, which read, “MOX, ISTRAC, this is Chandrayaan-3. I am feeling lunar gravity.”
India’s state-run broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) said after lunar orbit injection, Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is slated to orbit the moon multiple times, gradually approaching the moon.
“Once it reaches a 100 km orbit above the lunar surface, the lander and rover will be detached and maneuvered to soft-land on the surface of the moon,” the broadcaster said. “The spacecraft is expected to complete a 40-day journey to make a soft landing near the moon’s south pole around August 23.”
Chandrayaan 3 was launched on July 14.
Chandrayaan-2 was launched on July 22, 2019. However, the mission lander lost contact shortly before the scheduled attempt to soft-land on the moon on Sept. 7, 2019.
