Four years after it broke many hearts, ISRO’s Chandrayaan is all set to soar towards the moon in its third expedition on Friday in an attempt to put the country in an elite club of nations that accomplished lunar missions with a soft landing. ‘Fat boy’ LVM3-M4 rocket will carry Chandrayaan-3 as part of the country’s ambitious moon mission as the Indian Space Research Organisation is gearing up for the hugely anticipated launch from this spaceport on July 14. The soft landing on the moon’s surface is planned for late August.

Chandrayaan-2 failed to achieve the desired soft landing on the moon’s surface in 2019, leaving the ISRO team dejected. Images of an emotional then ISRO chief K Sivan being consoled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was here to achieve the rare feat, remains vivid in the memory of many.

Scientists at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here, after investing many hours of hard work, now aim at mastering the technology of soft-landing on the surface of the moon. A success would make India only the fourth country to achieve the feat after the United States, China, and the former Soviet Union.

Chandrayaan-3 is the third lunar exploration mission ready for takeoff in the fourth operational mission (M4) of the LVM3 launcher. 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 mission is expected to be supportive of future interplanetary missions.

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

With the 43.5 meter tall rocket, scheduled for the lift off from the second launch pad at a pre-fixed time at 2.35 pm on July 14, the countdown for the launch is expected to begin on Thursday.

The largest and heaviest LVM3 rocket (formerly GSLV MkIII), fondly called ‘fat boy’ by ISRO scientists for its heavy-lift capability, has completed six consecutive successful missions.

The LVM3 rocket is a composite of three modules — propulsion, lander, and rover (which is housed inside the lander).

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 multi-satellites, and interplanetary missions among others. It is also the largest and heaviest launch vehicle ferrying Indian and International customer satellites, ISRO said.

The reason to fix the launch window during the month of July similar to the Chandrayaan-2 mission (July 22, 2019) is because the earth and moon would be closer to each other during this part of the year.