New Delhi, August 14: Chandrayaan 2, India's ambitious mission to the moon, on Wednesday left the earth's orbit. It successfully entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory (LTT) after its orbit was raised further by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The final orbit raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-2 was successfully carried out at 2.21 am. The spacecraft's motors were fired for 1,203 seconds. Where is Chandrayaan 2 Now and How It Will Reach The Moon; ISRO Mission's Path Explained.

ISRO said, "With this, Chandrayaan-2 entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory. Earlier, the spacecraft's orbit was progressively increased five times during July 23 to August 06, 2019." The Indian space agency is continuously monitoring the progress of the mission from the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru with support from Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennas at Byalalu. Chandrayaan-2 to Move Towards the Moon on Wednesday and Reach Moon’s Orbit on August 20.

ISRO's Tweet:

Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft is expected to reach the moon’s orbit on August 20 and land on the lunar surface on September 7, said ISRO chairman K Sivan on August 12. The ISRO will now carry out lunar orbit insertion. By this process, the Chandrayaan-2 will be around the moon on August 20. Sivan had said that the spacecraft was “doing very well” at present and all its systems were functioning properly.

Here's the Video of The Path Followed by Chandrayaan 2:

Chandrayaan 2 was successfully launched on July 22 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The spacecraft was carried by the heavy-lift rocket GSLV-MkIII, nicknamed 'Baahubali'. The Rs 978 crore Chandrayaan-2 project will take 48 days to complete the task of landing on the Moon. India will now become the fourth nation after the United Nations, Russia and China by successfully making "soft-landing" on lunar surface.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 14, 2019 09:36 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).