The 25.30-hour countdown for the launch of the country`s third moon mission Chandrayaan-3 commenced on Thursday at the spaceport here, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

Friday`s lunar expedition follows the 2019 Chandrayaan-2 mission where space scientists are aiming for a soft landing on the surface of the moon. A successful mission would see India enter an elite club of nations achieving such a feat, the others being the United States, China and the former Soviet Union.

“LVM3M4-CHANDRAYAAN-3 MISSION: The countdown leading to the launch tomorrow (Friday- July 14) at 14.35 hrs has commenced,” ISRO said in a social media post.

Through the Chandryaan-3 programme, ISRO is crossing new frontiers by demonstrating soft-landing on the lunar surface by its lunar module and demonstrating roving on the lunar terrain, the space agency said.

The LVM3-M4 rocket (formerly GSLVMkI II) dubbed as `Fat Boy` by the space scientists for its ability to carry heavy payload, would carry Chandrayaan-3 on Friday as ISRO`s ambitious moon mission is hugely anticipated from this spaceport on Friday.

The soft landing of the spacecraft is planned for late August. The mission is expected to be supportive to future interplanetary missions.

Chandrayaan-3 mission consists of an indigenous propulsion module, lander module and a rover with an objective of developing and demonstrating new technologies required for inter-planetary missions.

Friday`s mission is the fourth operational flight of LVM3 which aims to launch the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft into a Geo Transfer Orbit.

The LVM3 vehicle has proved its versatility to undertake most complex missions including injecting multiple satellites, interplanetary missions among others. It is also the largest and heaviest launch vehicle ferrying domestic and international customer satellites, ISRO said.

Scientists at ISRO through the third moon mission aim to demonstrate various capabilities including reaching the orbit of the moon, making a soft-landing on the lunar surface using a lander, and a rover coming out of the lander to study the surface of the moon.

On Tuesday, the `launch rehearsal` simulating the entire launch preparation and process that lasted for over 24 hours concluded at Sriharikota while the next day, the Mission Readiness Review was completed by the scientists.

“The Board has authorised the launch (for Friday at 2.35pm).” the space agency had said.

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