India’s first lunar lander is on its way to the moon
Chandrayaan 2 mission’s rover will explore closer to the moon’s south pole than any other rover
India’s first moon lander is on its way to the lunar south pole.
At 5:13 a.m. EDT on July 22, the Chandrayaan 2 mission launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on India’s southeast coast. The mission consists of an orbiter; a lander named Vikram after Indian space scientist Vikram Sarabhai; and a rover named Pragyan, the Sanskrit word for wisdom.
The spacecraft was originally scheduled to launch in May, but was delayed for more safety checks after the Israeli-built Beresheet lander crashed on the moon in April (SN Online: 4/11/19). The launch was delayed a second time on July 14 “as a measure of abundant caution,” when the countdown was called off an hour before liftoff due to a “technical snag,” the Indian space agency tweeted.