Union Minister JItendra Singh in a written response in the Lok Sabha informed that ISRO will tentatively launch the Chandrayaan-III space mission in the first half of 2021, Press Trust of India has reported.
“The tentative launch schedule for Chandrayaan–III is first half of 2021. Chandrayaan-III mission has been configured based on the lessons learnt from Chadrayaan-II”, the Minister was quoted as saying.
ISRO had come agonisingly close last year to fully complete the Chandrayaan-III mission. The Vikram lander had hard landed on the lunar surface which rendered the space agency unable to deploy the Pragyan Rover.
While speaking on the Gaganyaan mission, the Minister informed that ISRO is all set to conduct four biological and two physical science experiments related to microgravity essential for the space mission.
Hardware realisation and astronaut training has also commenced for the shortlisted candidates. ISRO also successfully completed a three week flight surgeon program carried out in collaboration with French space agency CNES.