India's second moon mission Chandrayaan-2 was launched on July 22 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra's Nellore district at 2.43 pm. It was launched atop a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) MkIII, India's most powerful rocket and will carry an orbiter, a Lander Vikram, and a Rover Pragyan, which would revolve around the moon for 12 days.

ISRO confirmed on Tuesday that the fifth and last of the five earth-bound orbit-raising maneuvers of the Chandrayaan 2 spacecraft has been successfully completed. "Fifth earthbound orbit-raising maneuver for Chandrayaan 2 spacecraft has been performed today (August 6, 2019) at 1504 hrs (IST) as planned." ISRO's post read. The maneuver was carried out at 3.04 pm IST using the onboard propulsion system for a firing duration of 1041 seconds (~17 minutes), four days after the fourth orbit-raising was completed, placing the spacecraft in a 276 x 142975 km orbit (nearest x furthest Earth-bound altitude).

The success of the Chandrayaan 2 mission makes India the fourth country, followed by the US, Russia, and China to pull off a soft landing on the moon. It has been reported that the budget of ISRO is less than 20 times that of USA's NASA.

#ISRO
Fifth earth bound orbit raising maneuver for #Chandrayaan2 spacecraft has been performed today (August 6, 2019) at 1504 hrs (IST) as planned.

For details, please visit https://t.co/gmamiVzyQ1 pic.twitter.com/DEQR1PPxwY

— ISRO (@isro) August 6, 2019