Chandrayaan-3: Third Orbit-Raising Manoeuvre Successfully Performed, Says ISRO

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Tuesday successfully performed the third orbit-raising maneuver (Earth-bound perigee firing) of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft. The next firing is planned for July 20 between 2 pm and 3 pm, the national space agency headquartered here said.

"The mission is on schedule. The third orbit-raising maneuver (Earth-bound perigee firing) is performed successfully from ISTRAC/ISRO, Bengaluru. The next firing is planned for July 20, 2023, between 2 and 3 pm IST," tweets the Indian space agency on Tuesday.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon was launched on July 14.

During a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram, Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, S Unnikrishnan Nair, expressed satisfaction with the performance of the launch vehicle and the precise fulfillment of initial spacecraft requirements.

Following the successful launch of the LVM3-M4 rocket carrying Chandrayaan-3, Project Director P Veeramuthuvel stated that ISRO would closely monitor and control the spacecraft from ISTRAC.

Veeramuthuvel outlined a series of critical events in the mission, including Earth-bound manoeuvres, insertion into lunar orbit, separation of the lander, a set of deboost manoeuvres, and ultimately the power descent phase for a soft landing on the lunar surface.