First picture of Moon captured by Chandrayaan 2 revealed

The first visuals of the Moon captured by the Chandrayaan 2 spacecraft from a distance of 2650 km from the Moon’s surface have been released by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

In a major breakthrough for India’s second lunar exploration mission, Chandrayaan 2 successfully entered the Moon’s orbit on August 20 at 9.02 am after 30 days of journey in space. “Take a look at the first Moon image captured by #Chandrayaan2 #VikramLander taken at a height of about 2650 km from Lunar surface on August 21, 2019. Mare Orientale basin and Apollo craters are identified in the picture,” ISRO’s post read.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.

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. The spacecraft is expected to touch down on the Moon’s surface on September 7.