India will become the fourth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon with its planned Chandrayaan-3 moon exploration project, demonstrating its expertise in carrying out safe and gentle lunar surface landings. The Chandrayaan-3 mission is scheduled to launch on Friday, July 14, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, and the countdown for that launch started on Thursday, July 13, at 14:35 IST.

Off the coast of Andhra Pradesh’s Bay of Bengal region sits the island of Sriharikota. The Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota is one of India’s two satellite launch facilities; the other being the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

CHANDRAYAAN-3 LAUNCH INFORMATION
The GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle will carry the spacecraft into orbit. After the Chandrayaan-2 mission encountered difficulties during its soft landing in 2019, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will attempt this as a follow-up. The ISRO has finished its ‘Launch Rehearsal’, which simulated the complete launch preparation and process.

A group of ISRO scientists traveled to Tirupathi Venkatachalapathy Temple in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday to pray before the Chandrayaan-3 launch on Friday. They carried a scale model of the spacecraft with them.

Chandrayaan-3 would be the first spacecraft to touch down on the South Pole of the Moon if this launch is successful, showcasing India’s technical ability and audacious spacefaring objectives.

In the meantime, ISRO has invited regular people to watch the launch of Chandrayaan-3. From the Launch View Gallery at SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikota, you may watch the launch.

Vehicle electrical testing has been finished, the ISRO tweeted. Register at https://lvg.shar.gov.in/VSCREGISTRATIO to attend the launch from the Launch View Gallery at SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikota.

Chandrayaan-3 will launch on July 14 at 2.35 p.m., and if all goes well, it will land on the moon on August 23. According to ISRO Director S Somanath, this will happen. The equations used to determine the date depend on when the moon will rise in the sky, but if it is delayed, we will have to postpone the landing until September.