The next de-orbiting maneuver is scheduled between 3:30 and 4:30 am on September 4.

As said by Indian Space Research Organisation in a statement, Chandrayaan-2 successfully completed its first de-orbiting maneuver on Tuesday and brought the mission of landing on the moon one step closer.

According to the statement by ISRO, the four-second long maneuver was performed using the onboard propulsion system at 8:50 am. "The orbit of Vikram Lander is 104 km x 128 km. Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter continues to orbit the Moon in the existing orbit and both the Orbiter and Lander are healthy," the statement added.

#ISRO
The first de-orbit maneuver for #VikramLander of #Chandrayaan2 spacecraft was performed successfully today (September 03, 2019) at 0850 hrs IST.

For details please visit https://t.co/K5dS113UJL

Here's view of Control Centre at ISTRAC, Bengaluru pic.twitter.com/Ddeo2URPg5

— ISRO (@isro) September 3, 2019

The next de-orbiting maneuver is scheduled between 3:30 and 4:30 am on September 4. The Vikram Lander on Monday successfully separated from Chandrayaan-2 orbiter.  This will be the first Indian expedition which will carry out a soft landing on the moon. India will be the fourth country after the US, Russia, and China to carry out a soft landing. The craft began its journey to the moon on August 14.

(with inputs from ANI)

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Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from Agencies