Chandrayaan-3 successfully inserted into lunar orbit: ISRO

India’s ambitious third moon mission, Chandrayaan-3 was successfully inserted into the lunar orbit on Saturday, the ISRO said. The required maneuver was done from an ISRO facility in Bengaluru, the city-headquartered space agency said in a tweet.

“Chandrayaan-3 has been successfully inserted into the lunar orbit. A retro-burning at the Perilune was commanded from the Mission Operations Complex (MOX), ISTRAC ( ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network ) , Bengaluru,” the agency said in a tweet.

Perilune is the spacecraft’s closest point to the moon.

The next operation – reduction of orbit– will be done at 11 PM on Sunday, ISRO added.

ISRO also shared a message from the satellite to its centres, which read,”MOX, ISTRAC, this is Chandrayaan-3. I am feeling lunar gravity.”

Over five moves in the three weeks since the launch on July 14, ISRO has been lifting the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft into orbits farther and farther away from the Earth.

Then, on August 1 in a key maneuver — a slingshot move — the craft was sent successfully towards the Moon from Earth’s orbit.

Following this trans-lunar injection, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft escaped from orbiting the Earth and began following a path that would take it to the vicinity of the moon.