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The Chandrayaan-2 Indian spacecraft has entered the moon's orbit, the US Space Agency said Tuesday.
The Vikram lander of the unmanned spacecraft is expected to reach the lunar surface next month, making India an exclusive group of countries that have successfully landed on the moon.
Chandrayaan will continue to circle the moon in a narrower orbit to a distance of about 100 km from the surface of the moon.
INDIA LAUNCHES MOON AND UNVEILS THE SPACECRAFT FOR A HISTORICAL MISSION
The landing gear will then separate from the orbiter and use rocket gas to brake when attempting the first Indian lunar landing on a relatively flat surface between two craters in the southern polar region on September 7 – an area where no Lunar landing has not been attempted yet.
"Today (August 20, 2019) after lunar orbit insertion, # Chandrayaan2 is now in Lunar Orbit. Lander Vikram will land softly on Moon on September 7, 2019. "tweeted the Indian Space Research Organization.
"Congratulations to the @isro team for # Chandrayaan2's participation in the orbit of the moon. This is a milestone in the historic trip to the moon, "Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter on Tuesday.
The Chandrayaan-2 mission was launched on July 22 in Sriharikota, in southern India. The mission is underway, although a technical problem has delayed the launch of a week.
INDIA LAUNCHES HISTORICAL MISSION TO THE MOON
Until now, only the United States, Russia and China have successfully landed on the moon.
Chandrayaan-2 artist's view from a video of an Indian space research organization.
(Indian Space Research Organization)
The Indian spacecraft has already reached the moon, although the country has not yet made a "soft landing" on the lunar surface.
The first Indian lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, made an orbit around the Moon in 2008, but did not land there. However, he launched an impact probe that intentionally crashed into the moon.
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Chandrayaan-1 worked for 312 days.
On July 22, 2019, a photo published by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) shows its MkIII Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) carrying Chandrayaan-2 taking off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India.
(Indian Space Research Organization via AP)
The Moon occupies an important place in the space programs of several countries. China, for example, became the first country to successfully land a probe on the other side of the moon earlier this year when the Chang'e 4 lander reached the lunar surface on Jan. 2.
However, the unmanned Israeli Beresheet satellite crashed when it attempted to land on the moon on April 11. It was a few hundred meters above the lunar surface when Mission Control in Yehud, Israel, lost contact with the probe.
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A preliminary investigation revealed that a manual control had caused the accident.
The United States is also targeting the celestial satellite and planning to land on the Moon the American astronauts, including the first female, by 2024. The Artemis program will also establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon.
NASA recently revealed the details of its vision for the Artemis Moon Lander.
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Speaking at the Kennedy Space Center on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon's landing on July 20, Vice President Mike Pence announced that the Orion capsule that will bring back the American astronauts on the moon is ready.
After Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped on the moon, only 10 more men, all Americans, walked on the lunar surface. On December 14, 1972, Gene Cernan, commander of the Apollo 17 mission, was the last astronaut to walk on the lunar floor.
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Last month, Buzz Aldrin, an Apollo 11 astronaut at the White House, expressed his disappointment at the progress of American space since the time of Apollo 11.
Chris Ciaccia of Fox News, Morgan Cheung and Associated Press contributed to this article. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers
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