India is shooting for the moon with the latest rocket launch

BENGALURU: An expanding, low-cost aerospace program led by India will launch its most recent attempt at an unmanned lunar landing on Friday, quickly approaching the benchmarks set by the world’s superpowers.

If successful, the mission would make the world’s most populous nation only the fourth country after Russia, the United States and China to achieve a controlled landing on the lunar surface.

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The latest iteration of the Chandrayaan (“Mooncraft”) programme comes four years after an earlier attempt ended in failure, with ground crew losing contact moments before landing.

This time around, there is optimism that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will succeed. As it sets its sights on a future manned lunar mission.

The 14-day mission comes with a price tag of $74.6 million, according to media reports. And aims to successfully land a rover to explore the lunar surface.

The launch, which is plan to take place at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre north of Chennai at 2:35 p.m. local time (09:05 GMT), is anticipate to draw a sizable audience.

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Since 2008, when India launched its first lunar orbiting probe. The country’s space program has expanded significantly in both size and momentum.

The ISRO launched 104 satellites in a single mission three years. Tfter being the first Asian country to circle Mars with a satellite in 2014.

The ISRO’s Gaganyaan (“Skycraft”) programme is slated to launch a three-day manned mission into Earth’s orbit by next year.