The Indian Space Research Organisation has successfully performed the second orbit-raising manoeuvre (Earth-bound apogee firing) of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft.

“The second orbit-raising maneuver (Earth-bound apogee firing) is performed successfully. The spacecraft is now in 41603 km x 226 km orbit. The next firing is planned for tomorrow between 2 and 3 pm IST,” the ISRO informed in a tweet on Monday.

The first orbit-raising maneuver (Earthbound firing-1) was successfully performed on Saturday.

On Friday, the ISRO successfully launched the third edition of its Moon exploration programme from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, aimed at making a soft landing on the unexplored south pole of the Moon.

Fifteen minutes post-launch, the Chandrayaan 3 spacecraft successfully separated from the LVM3 launch vehicle in an orbit near the Earth and commenced its long journey towards the Moon.

The spacecraft, comprising a lander and rover, is expected to make a soft landing on the Moon either on August 23 or August 24.