NEW DELHI, Aug 5 India has launched the Chandrayaan-3 robotic space station into orbit around the moon, the Indian Space Agency has announced.
«Chandrayan 3 has been successfully launched into lunar orbit. The next operation (orbit reduction) is scheduled for August 6 at around 23:00 ET,» the Indian Space Research Organization tweeted.
Chandrayaan 3 consists of a lander, a propulsion module, and a lunar rover. The separation of the landing unit will take place on August 17. The lander is expected to land on the surface of the moon on August 23 at 17:47 India time (15.17 Moscow time).
Mission «Chandrayan-3» is designed to correct possible errors made during the launch of the previous mission «Chandrayan-2».
The Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan-2 entered the orbit of the Moon on August 20, 2019. In September of the same year, the Vikram module was supposed to make a controlled descent to the lunar surface. The descent of the apparatus proceeded normally, however, at an altitude of 2.1 kilometers, a failure and deviation from the route occurred, the details of which are still unclear. Then the communication «Vikram» with the command post was lost. After a series of unsuccessful attempts, the Indian Space Research Organization has stopped making efforts to restore contact with him.