India is hoping to become the fourth country to execute a controlled landing on the moon with its successful launch of the Chandrayaan-3 mission on Friday. Chandrayaan launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota in southern Andhra Pradesh state around 2:30 p.m. local time. Crowds gathered to watch the take off at the space center.
Later on Friday, it was confirmed that Chandrayaan-3 is in precise orbit and has begun its journey to the moon. The craft is expected to land on the moon on August 23. India’s two previous attempts at landing on the moon have failed. Chandrayaan-2 in 2019 failed, and the Chandrayaan-1 orbited the moon and then was crash-landed onto the moon’s surface in 2008. Chandrayaan-3 aims to land safely on the moon to collect data and conduct a series of scientific experiments to understand more about the moon’s composition. Only three other countries have achieved the feat of soft-landing a spacecraft on the moon’s surface.
Read More: India launches historic Chandrayaan-3 mission to land spacecraft on the moon
