Chandrayaan-3 set to take leap towards moon today

New Delhi, July 13

The 25.30-hour countdown for the launch of the country’s third moon mission Chandrayaan-3 commenced on Thursday at the spaceport in Sriharikota, ISRO said.

Among the main objectives of the mission are to attempt a soft landing on the moon by the spacecraft, release of a rover on the lunar surface and recording and analysing scientific data on site.

After being launched in the geo-stationary orbit on Friday, the final landing by the spacecraft on the lunar surface is expected to take place in late August.

The spacecraft will be launched on a GSLV Mark-III (LVM3) heavy-lift launch vehicle. A successful mission will see India enter an elite club of nations achieving such a feat, the others being the US, China and the former Soviet Union. “The board has authorised the launch (for Friday at 2.35 pm),” the space agency said.