ISRO reduces orbit, sends Chandrayaan-3 to moon

On Sunday, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced that the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft's GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle successfully completed an orbit reduction maneuver, bringing it closer to the moon.

On August 9, the space agency plans to conduct the next similar operation.

The spacecraft carried out a maneuver to lower its orbit as intended. Engine upgrades pushed it to within 170 km × 4313 km of the Moon's surface. The ISRO announced on Twitter on Sunday that the next orbit-lowering operation will take place on August 9 between 13:00 and 14:00 hours IST.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the first photographs of the moon taken by India's third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, were released by the space agency. On Saturday, Chandrayan-3 entered Moon orbit and began taking breathtaking pictures of the lunar surface.

In a post dated August 5, 2023, the Mission's official Twitter account described the Moon as seen by the #Chandrayaan3 spacecraft during Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI). According to ISRO, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully reached Lunar orbit on Saturday after traveling around two-thirds of the way to the Moon since its launch.