CHandrayaan-3 Mission On Track: Third orbit-raising manoeuvre complete

Sriharikota/Bengaluru: ISRO on Tuesday successfully performed the third orbit-raising manoeuvre of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft. The next firing is planned for July 20 between 2 pm and 3 pm, the national space agency said.

"The third orbit-raising manoeuvre (Earth-bound perigee firing) is performed successfully from ISTRAC (ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network)/ISRO, Bengaluru," it said. The Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon was launched on July 14. And 17 minutes after lift-off at 2.35 pm, the satellite was precisely injected into the intended orbit.

Speaking to reporters in Thiruvananthapuram earlier, Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre S Unnikrishnan Nair said that the launch vehicle has performed extremely well, and the initial conditions required for the spacecraft have been provided "very precisely".

Following the successful launch of LVM3-M4 rocket carrying Chandrayaan -3, its project director P Veeramuthuvel had said that ISRO would be closely monitoring and controlling the spacecraft from ISTRAC.

“Many critical events are lined up, starting from Earth-bound manoeuvres, insertion into lunar orbit and separation of lander, a set of deboost manoeuvres, and finally the power descent phase for a soft landing (on the lunar surface),” Veeramuthuvel said.