Dikhyaa Mohanty 
According to a statement released on Sunday by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), Chandrayaan-3’s lunar lander has undergone its second and final adjustment, and the spacecraft is now in a reduced orbit. The touchdown is scheduled for August 23 at 6:04 p.m.
India is on the verge of making history if Chandrayaan’s lander Vikram makes it to the surface as planned; if it does, it will be the first time that any nation’s mission has reached the south polar region. The announcement came hours before Russia confirmed it had lost its Luna-25 lander after it attempted its own orbital adjustment on Saturday.
The Indian space agency said on Sunday that the lander had successfully completed a deceleration procedure known as “de-boosting” and had been put in an orbit that measured 25 km by 134 km, the distance between the lander and the surface.
The module would go through internal inspections and wait until dawn at the approved landing place, Isro added. The agency said on X (previously Twitter) that “the powered descent is expected to start on August 23, 2023, around 1745 Hrs. (5.45pm) IST.”
The lander’s orbit was lowered to 113km X 157km on Friday during the first de-boosting procedure. Around two in the morning on Sunday, the second operation started.
The space agency performs de-boosting procedures to gradually lower the spacecraft’s velocity until it reaches a predetermined regulated speed before touching down on the moon’s surface.
