ISRO on Tuesday successfully performed the fifth orbit-raising manoeuvre (Earth-bound perigee firing) of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft from the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) here. "The spacecraft is expected to attain an orbit of 127609 km X 236 km. The achieved orbit will be confirmed after the observations," the national space agency headquartered here said.
"The next firing, the TransLunar Injection (TLI) is planned for August 1, 2023 between 12 midnight and 1 am IST," added ISRO, which had launched the Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon on July 14.
An ISRO official told PTI that following the TLI, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft would escape from orbiting the Earth and follow a path that would take it to the vicinity of the Moon. In other words, the spacecraft would begin its journey towards the Moon on August 1, after leaving the Earth's orbit following the TLI manoeuvre, which would place it on "lunar transfer trajectory". ISRO has said it would attempt soft-landing of the lander on the Moon's surface on August 23.
