A fortnight since its successful launch from Sriharikota, Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission, has successfully completed its orbits around the Earth and is injected into the translunar orbit, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Tuesday.

“Chandrayaan-3 has completed its orbits around the Earth and is heading towards the Moon,” the national space agency said.

A successful perigee-firing performed at ISTRAC (ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network). ISRO has injected the spacecraft into the translunar orbit,” it said.

“Next stop: the moon. As it arrives at the moon, the Lunar-Orbit Insertion (LOI) is planned for August 5, 2023,” it added.

Meanwhile, an ISRO official told  that following Tuesday’s translunar injection (TLI), the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft escaped from orbiting the earth and is now following a path that would take it to the vicinity of the Moon.

In other words, the spacecraft began its journey towards the Moon on Tuesday, after leaving the Earth’s orbit following the TLI maneuver, which placed it on ‘lunar transfer trajectory’.

On July 14, Chandrayaan-3 was successfully launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota by ISRO, on-board Launch Vehicle Mark-3, formerly known as the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk-III.

The space agency had said that it would attempt soft landing of the lander on the lunar surface on August 23.

Earlier, the spacecraft’s orbit was progressively increased five times after the Chandrayaan-3 mission to Moon was launched on July 14.

The current mission follows Chandrayaan-2, which experienced a last-minute glitch leading to the lander crashing after entering lunar orbit. The spacecraft comprises a lander and rover, developed by ISRO, designed to safely land on the lunar surface, collect data, and conduct a series of scientific experiments