Chandrayaan-3: India launches third mission to moon

On Friday, India launched another mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-3, from Satish Dhawan space center in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota. 

This is the third mission launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO's) after the previous two missions remained unsuccessful. 

About 16 minutes after the launch, the ISRO's mission control announced that the rocket had successfully put the Chandrayaan-3 lander into an Earth orbit that will push it looping toward a moon landing next month.

The landing is scheduled to take place on August 23-24, a date chosen based on the availability of sunlight on the moon. Praygan, the moon rover, will arrive on the moon's south pole.

The major goal of Chandrayaan-3 is to demonstrate the Indian space agency's capacity to land softly on the moon. It also carries numerous essential payloads that will aid in the collection of critical data about the lunar surface.

If the Chandrayaan-3 mission is successful, India will become the fourth country after the United States, China, and Russia to land a spacecraft on the moon's surface.