Chandrayaan-3: Isro reduces lander orbit, touchdown on Moon at 18.04 hrs on Aug 23

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: ISRO on Sunday said it has successfully reduced the orbit of Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander module, and it is now expected to touch down on the surface of the Moon at 1804 hours on August 23.

The space agency said the lander module would undergo internal checks ahead of the planned soft landing. Earlier ISRO had said that the touchdown would take place at at 5.47 pm on August 23.

Now, it has been moved by 17 minutes. The second and final deboosting (slowing down) operation has successfully reduced the LM orbit to 25 km x 134 km.

The powered descent is expected to commence on August 23, 2023, around 1745 hrs IST,” ISRO said in a post on 'X' (formerly Twitter) in the early hours of Sunday.

According to ISRO, India's pursuit of space exploration will reach a remarkable milestone with the Chandrayaan-3 mission poised to achieve a soft landing on the surface of the Moon.

This eagerly anticipated event will be broadcast live on August 23, starting from 17:27 Hrs IST on multiple platforms, including the ISRO Website, its YouTube channel, ISRO's Facebook page, and DD National TV channel.