Chandrayaan-3 has been successfully inserted into lunar orbit, says ISRO

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft was successfully injected into Moon's orbit on Saturday, said Indian Space Research Organisation.

The manoeuvre was performed when Chandrayaan-3 was at the closest point to the Moon (perilune), ISRO said.

The Lunar Orbit Injection (LOI) manoeuvre was executed by ISRO's Telemetry, Tracking, and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru. The next operation - reduction of orbit – is scheduled for Sunday at around 11 pm (IST), announced ISRO.

"Chandrayaan-3 Mission: “MOX, ISTRAC, this is Chandrayaan-3. I am feeling lunar gravity 🌖” Chandrayaan-3 has been successfully inserted into the lunar orbit. A retro-burning at the Perilune was commanded from the Mission Operations Complex (MOX), ISTRAC, Bengaluru. The next operation - reduction of orbit – is scheduled for Aug 6, 2023, around 23:00 Hrs. IST," tweeted ISRO on Saturday.

The space agency earlier said that the health of India's third lunar mission is normal and a soft-landing on the lunar surface would be attempted on August 23.

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has covered about two-thirds of the distance to the Moon since its launch on July 14, ISRO said on Friday.

Over five moves in the three weeks since, ISRO has been lifting the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft into orbits farther and farther away from Earth. Then, on August 1 in a key manoeuvre -- a slingshot move -- the craft was sent successfully towards the Moon from Earth's orbit.