India's ambitious mission Chandrayaan 2 to touch down on moon surface tonight

India's ambitious lunar mission Chandrayaan 2 is scheduled to make a soft landing on the surface of the moon on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday between 1:30 am to 2:30 am.

This will be followed by the Rover roll out between 5:30 am to 6:30 am, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) stated.

The second de-orbiting maneuver for Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft was performed successfully in the wee hours of Wednesday.

"The maneuver was performed successfully today (September 04, 2019) beginning at 0342 hours Indian Standard Time (IST) as planned, using the onboard propulsion system," the space agency said in a statement.

The duration of the maneuver was 9 seconds and the orbit of Vikram Lander is 35 km x 101 km.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be at the ISRO around midnight to watch the event. Over 60 high school students across the country who cleared an online space quiz last month will watch the soft landing of the mission with the Prime Minister.

The Chandrayaan 2 spacecraft will be the first Indian expedition to carry out a soft landing on the lunar surface. This mission will make India the fourth country after the US, Russia, and China to conduct a soft landing on the moon.

After revolving around the Earth's orbit for nearly 23 days, the craft began its journey to the moon on August 14.

The mission took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on July 22.

India's second mission to the moon was approved by the cabinet in September 2008, just before the launch of Chandrayaan 1.

(ANI)

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