The Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 mission launched out from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, at 2.35 PM IST on Friday, 14 July.
The project follows Chandrayaan-2, in which scientists intend to demonstrate several capabilities such as reaching lunar orbit, soft-landing on the lunar surface with a lander, and a rover emerging from the lander to examine the moon’s surface.
Sixteen minutes after lift-off, the propulsion module successfully separated from the rocket and would orbit the Earth 5-6 times in an elliptical cycle with 170 km closest to the Earth and 36,500 km furthest from the Earth, eventually settling into lunar orbit.
