As ISRO's Chandrayaan 2 Moves Closer To Moon, All Eyes Set On Its Landing

India's current moon mission is a follow-up of its Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and the Mars Orbiter Mission/Mangalyaan launched in 2013 showing the world that Indian spacecraft can travel longer distances.

Image tweeted by ISRO

NEW DELHI: India's first moon lander Vikram is all set to land on the moon on September 7 with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Vikram is scheduled for a powered-descent between 1 am and 2 am on Saturday, followed by the touchdown of the Lander, carrying rover Pragyan, between 1.30 am and 2.30 am on the unexplored lunar south pole. India's current moon mission is a follow-up of its Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and the Mars Orbiter Mission/Mangalyaan launched in 2013 showing the world that Indian spacecraft can travel longer distances. "Let's pray for the successful soft-landing" -- that pretty much sums up the mood at Isro ahead of Saturday's highly crucial event of the Chandrayaan-2 mission. Nervous and anxious for sure, but the city-headquartered space agency is cautiously optimistic of "Vikram" module's soft-landing on the Lunar surface planned in the early hours of Saturday. Chairman of Isro (Indian Space Research Organisation) K Sivan recently said the space agency "had done everything humanly possible" for the mission's success. On July 22, the Rs 978 crore Chandrayaan-2 was launched into space by India's heavy lift rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV Mk III) in a text book style. The Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft comprises of three segments - the Orbiter (weighing 2,379 kg, eight payloads), the lander 'Vikram' (1,471 kg, four payloads) and rover 'Pragyan' (27 kg, two payloads). On September 2, the Rs 978 crore lunar mission moved a step closer to the Moon after the landing module 'Vikram' was successfully separated from the orbiter and its orbit lowered in two more manoeuvres in the next two days.