Chandrayaan-3, India’s moon-landing mission to be launched by July 19

Chandrayaan-3, India’s ambitious plan to land on the surface of the Moon, will be launched between July 12 and 19, Indian Space Research Organisation chairman S Somanath said in an interview at Kottayam on Monday.

Speaking to the media after inaugurating a one-day workshop and space exhibition at Kothavara St Xavier’s College organised by ISRO, Somanath said that the Chandrayaan has already reached the launch pad in Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, from UR Rao Satellite Centre.

“The final preparations are going on. It will be completed by the end of this month. At the same time, the rocket, LVM-3, is going to be used for this launch. Its assembly is going on. All parts for its assembly have reached Sriharikota,” Somanath said.

He said the rocket assembly will also be completed by the end of this month and then there is a process to integrate Chandrayaan-3 with the rocket.

He said that too would be done in the last week of June and many tests will follow.

“There is a window for launch between July 12 and 19 and we can only launch it during that window. We can do it later also but we will suffer fuel losses,” Somanath said.