The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Sunday released the first images of the moon taken by Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission.

Chandrayan-3 captured stunning images of the Moon’s surface after entering the Moon’s orbit on Saturday.

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, which has traveled about two-thirds of the way to the Moon since launch, successfully entered lunar orbit on Saturday, according to ISRO.

The spacecraft, mounted on the GSLV Mark 3 heavy launch vehicle (LVM 3), successfully lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh on July 14.

India has become the fourth country after the United States, China and Russia to land its spacecraft on the lunar surface, demonstrating its ability to safely and smoothly land on the surface. moon. When it lands, it will be active for one lunar day, or about 14 Earth days. One day on the Moon is equivalent to 14 days on Earth.

The approved cost of Chandrayaan-3 is Rs 250 crore (excluding launch vehicle cost).

The development phase of Chandrayaan-3 began in January 2020 with an initial launch scheduled for 2021. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused unforeseen delays to the mission’s progress. Chandrayaan-3 is ISRO’s next attempt after the Chandrayaan-2 mission had difficulty during a soft landing on the lunar surface in 2019 and was ultimately deemed to have failed its main mission goals. .