Chandrayaan-3 update: ISRO shares stunning images of moon’s far side as world awaits landing on August 23

Chandrayaan-3 update: As the world awaits the most historic moment to happen, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Monday shared images of the moon from the far side area captured on August 19 by the Lander Hazard Detection and Avoidance Camera (LHDAC) planted in Chandrayaan-3.

On Sunday, ISRO shared that the Vikram Lander Module of Chandrayaan-3 has successfully completed its second and final deboosting, reducing the Lander Module orbit to 25km x 134km. The space agency also said the powered descent is expected to commence on August 23, 2023, at around 6.04 pm.

Previously, on August 18, Vikram Lander successfully completed its first deboosting operation at 4 pm, reducing the module’s orbit to 113 km x 157 km. “The Lander Module (LM) health is normal. LM successfully underwent a deboosting operation that reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km. The second deboosting operation is scheduled for August 20, 2023, around 0200 Hrs," ISRO posted on X (formerly Twitter).

On August 18, ISRO also shared a video of the view from the Lander Imager (LI) Camera-1. The video captured the view after the Lander Module separated from the Main Module on August 17.

Chandrayaan-3 was successfully launched on July 14 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, and it is India’s third mission in its Lunar exploration series.

On Sunday, Anand Mahindra, Chairperson of Mahindra and Mahindra, also hailed the Chandrayaan-3  and resharing a post from ISRO on X; he wrote, “August 23rd. 1745 IST. I’ll be watching. Praying. And cheering you on.”

Meanwhile, Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, confirmed that their Luna-25 mission had crash-landed on the Moon. This happened a day before it was supposed to touch down on the lunar south pole. On August 10, Luna-25 was launched, and on August 16, it entered lunar orbit. On August 21, Luna-25 was supposed to soft-land. 

Also Read: Chandrayaan-3 update: Vikram Lander completes final deboosting operation; all eyes on landing now

Also Watch: Meet the man behind Chandrayaan-3: ISRO Chairman S. Somanath; India’s Moon Mission updates

Also Read: Can Chandrayaan-3 become first to land on Moon's south pole as Russia's Luna-25 suffers glitch?