Chandrayaan-3 mission accomplished as satellite enters precise orbit successfully
Chandrayaan-3, India’s third moon mission and its second attempt to make a soft lunar landing, took off successfully on July 14 at 2:35 pm aboard the aboard the Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (LVM 3) rocket from the second launchpad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. At the end of the countdown, the LVM3-M4 rocket lifted off majestically at the prefixed time. The lift-off was normal and smooth, ISRO said.
The stage separations were executed precisely as planned, it added. ISRO announced the Chandrayaan-3 mission as accomplished after the satellite entered the orbit after an event-free flight. The 25.30-hour countdown for the lift off had commenced at 1.05 pm a day earlier.
More than 10,000 people from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka arrived at Sriharikota since early morning to watch the D-Day unfold. They were allowed to witness the launch from the dedicated space gallery set up by ISRO adjacent to the main entrance of the space centre. ISRO said that it had conducted a review of the mission readiness ahead of the scheduled launch.
The ‘Launch Rehearsal’ simulating the entire launch preparation and process was concluded earlier. Chandrayaan-3 is equipped with a lander, a rover and a propulsion module. Its weight is about 3,900 kilograms.
Having flown 3.84 lakh km, the LVM 3 is scheduled for a lunar touchdown on August 23-24. If success is achieved, Chandrayaan-3 will mark India's entry into an elite club of countries comprising the US, Russia and China that have successfully accomplished lunar landings. The Chandrayaan programme was first announced on August 15, 2003 by the then Prime Minister, the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
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