Next stop: Moon! Chandrayaan-3 completes orbit around Earth

Bengaluru: India's ambitious moon mission, Chandrayaan-3, has completed its orbit around the Earth and headed toward the destination.

India's space agency, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) confirmed the spacecraft's entry 'into the translunar orbit' at midnight.

ISRO said in a tweet that the Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI), preparing the spacecraft for the moon landing, is planned for August 5.

The soft landing on the moon's surface is expected on August 23 or 24.

An ISRO official told PTI that following Tuesday's trans-lunar injection (TLI), the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft escaped from orbiting the earth and is now following a path that would take it to the vicinity of the Moon.
In other words, the spacecraft began its journey towards the Moon on Tuesday, after leaving the Earth's orbit following the TLI maneuver, which placed it on 'lunar transfer trajectory'.

Chandrayaan 3 was launched, on-board LVM3-M4 rocket, from Sriharikota on July 14.

Thousands had gathered outside the Satish Dhawan Space Centre to witness the launch.

India is aiming to become the fourth country to achieve a controlled lunar landing, after the United States, the former Soviet Union, and China.

Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft will be the first to land at the lunar south pole, a region of particular interest due to the presence of water ice.

The mission comes after the Chandrayaan-2 mission in 2020, which successfully deployed an orbiter but saw it's lander and rover crash near the planned touchdown site.

Chandrayaan means "moon vehicle" in Sanskrit.