ISRO successfully lifts off Chandrayaan-3

New Delhi, July 14 (KNN) The Chandrayaan-3 mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh on Friday.

The mission follows Chandrayaan-2 where scientists aim to demonstrate various capabilities including reaching the orbit of the moon, making a soft-landing on the lunar surface using a lander, and a rover coming out of the lander to study the surface of the moon.

Sixteen minutes after lift-off, propulsion module successfully separated from the rocket and would orbit the earth for about 5-6 times in an elliptical cycle with 170 km closest and 36,500 km farthest from earth moving towards the lunar orbit.

After the successful separation of Chandrayaan 3 from LVM, Dr Jitendra Singh congratulated ISRO's team and said that Chandrayaan-3 has gone beyond sky limits to discover unexplored horizons of universe. 

The rover will embark on a journey lasting slightly over a month before landing on the Moon's surface later in August, around 23rd of that month. 

A successful landing would make India the fourth country — after the United States, the Soviet Union, and China — to achieve the feat.  (KNN Bureau)