India's Chandrayaan-2 moon mission prepares for historic moon landing. ISRO says module has reached distance of 100km from moon's surface and is set to land. Touchdown window starts from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. EDT on Friday (2000-2100 GMT)
Chandrayaan-2 aims to land on the South Pole of the Moon, something that none of the countries in the world have managed to do.
The Chandrayaan-2, which means "moon vehicle" in Sanskrit, was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota in southern Andhra Pradesh on July 22. Weighing 3.8 tons and carrying 13 payloads, it has three elements: lunar orbiter, lander and rover.
After traveling for two months, the Chandrayaan-2 positioned itself in a circular orbit above the moon's surface. From there, the lander (Vikram), separated from the main vessel, and will make its landing on the moon's surface.
Space agency Chairman K Sivan has said that landing on the lunar surface involves a lot of technical complexities - an event he described as "15 terrifying minutes."
A robotic rover named Pragyan (meaning "wisdom") will then be deployed, spending one lunar day collecting mineral and chemical samples from the moon's surface for remote scientific analysis.
A successful landing would make India the fourth nation to put a spacecraft on the moon and the first to put a craft at the lunar south pole.
India plans to send humans into space by 2022.
Courtsy of ISRO
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