Chandrayaan 3 LIVE: India's third mission to the Moon achieved an important step on Thursday. The part of the mission that will land on the Moon, called the Lander Module, which includes the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover, was separated from the part that provides propulsion.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) explained that after the separation, the lander will slow down to position itself in an orbit where it's closest to the Moon at 30 km and farthest at 100 km. This is the orbit from which they will try to softly land on the Moon's south pole, planned for August 23. The propulsion part will keep going in its current path, collecting research information for months or even years.
Chandrayaan-3 was launched into space by the LVM3 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on July 14 and entered lunar orbit on August 5.