20 August,2019 02:27 PM IST | | mid-day online correspondent
A view of the Chandrayaan-2 on board GSLVMkIII-M1 at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Nellore district, Saturday, July 13, 2019. Pic/PTI
The Chandrayaan 2 spacecraft, India's second lunar expedition, has successfully entered the lunar orbit, making the moment a major milestone for the country's moon mission. The spacecraft that was launched into space on July 22 by GSLV MkIII-M1 vehicle and had entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory on August 14, is expected to land on the surface of the moon on September 7. The maneuver called the âLunar Orbit insertion (LOI)' was completed at 9.02 am with its duration being 1738 seconds, the space research organization said in the statement.
With the project achieving the milestone, Twitter saw a rush of congratulatory tweets from some of the most prominent leaders.
Also Read: Chandrayaan 2 successfully placed in moon's orbit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated ISRO on their accomplishment, calling the milestone an important step to the landmark journey to the moon.
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BJP MP of Ladakh, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal tweeted praising the project and said that the milestone will mark another success in India's history.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath took to Twitter to congratulate the ISRO for the completion of the maneuver and sent his best wishes for the landing.
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also took to the micro-blogging site to convey his best wishes to the space research organisation.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted conveying his best wishes to the ISRO scientists.
Prominent businessman Anand Mahindra also posted his best wishes to ISRO for the maneuver.
The next lunar orbit bound manoeuvre is anticipated to occur on Wednesday between 12.30pm and 1.30pm, ISRO informed. According to ISRO, Chandrayaan 2 -- India's second lunar expedition -- will shed light on a completely unexplored section of the Moon its South Polar region.
"This mission will help us gain a better understanding of the origin and evolution of the Moon by conducting detailed topographical studies, comprehensive mineralogical analyses, and a host of other experiments on the lunar surface", the space agency had said in the statement.
With inputs from PTI
Also Read: Chandrayaan 2: The glorious journey so far
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