The Indian Space Research Organisation's Chandrayaan-3 has successfully entered Earth orbit on its way to the Moon today, 14 July.
The mission is India's latest attempt to launch a spacecraft from Earth and make a successful soft landing on another celestial body.
The ISRO had previously attempted a soft landing on the lunar surface with its Chandrayaan-2 mission in 2019, and while the spacecraft did reach lunar orbit successfully, a software error caused the lander to crash on 6 September 2019.
Chandrayaan-3 launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota Range in India and has reached Earth orbit. It will begin its further journey to the Moon in the coming days.
Once Chandrayaan 3 reaches orbit around the Moon, its Vikram lander will then separate from the spacecraft and touch down on the surface of the Moon late August.
From the lander, the Pragyan rover will then be deployed and begin its operations on the lunar surface.
The lander and rover, it is hoped, will operate for about 2 Earth weeks
Chandrayaan 3's propulsion module will stay in orbit around the Moon and conduct studies of Earth, while the lunar lander will measure the surface temperature of the Moon and seismic activity.
The rover will investigate the composition of surface material.
Mission support is being provided by the European Space Agency in the form of ground communication and tracking at stations in Kourou, French Guiana, Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd in the UK and Darmstadt, Germany.
Re-watch the launch of Chandrayaan-3
Today's launch was available to watch live via the Indian Space Research Organisation's YouTube channel. You can see a replay of it below.
