From launch to cheerful clapping and silence: Timeline of India's 2nd unmanned lunar mission

Bengaluru: Enthusiasm soon turned into a sense of despair at ISRO's Mission Operations Complex as India's second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2's lander 'Vikram' lost communication with the ground stations on Saturday just ahead of the soft landing.

The mission that started from July 22 with the launch of the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft achieved one milestone after another in a phased manner. However, the Vikram module lost contact minutes before the crucial touchdown on the lunar surface in the early hours of Saturday.

Here is the timeline of Chandrayaan 2 journey:

June 12: ISRO Chairman K Sivan announced that India's second sojourn to the moon, Chandrayaan-2, would be launched on July 15.

June 29: Rover after completion of all tests integrated with lander Vikram. Vikram lander (assembled with Pragyan Rover) integrated with Orbiter.

July 4: Integration of encapsulated assembly of Chandrayaan-2 with launch vehicle (GSLV MkIII-M1) completed.

July 7: GSLV MkIII-M1 moved to launch pad.

July 14: Countdown for GSLV MkIII-M1/Chandrayaan-2 launch on July 15 commenced.

July 15: ISRO called off Chandrayaan-2 launch as a technical snag is observed in launch vehicle system about one hour before blast-off.

July 18: Chandrayaan-2 launch rescheduled for July 22, at 2.43 pm from second launch pad of SDSC, Sriharikota.

July 21: Countdown for GSLV MkIII-M1 /Chandrayaan-2 launch on July 22 commenced.

July 22: GSLV MkIII-M1 successfully launched Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft.

July 24: First earth bound orbit raising manoeuvre for Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft was performed successfully.

July 26: Second earth bound manoeuvre performed.

July 29: Third earth bound manoeuvre performed.

August 2: Fourth earth bound manoeuvre performed.

August 4: ISRO releases first set of images of the earth captured by Chandrayaan-2 satellite.

August 6: Fifth earth bound manoeuvre performed.

August 14: Chandrayaan-2 successfully enters Lunar Transfer Trajectory.

August 20: Chandrayaan-2 successfully completed the Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) manoeuvre. The orbit achieved was 114 km x 18072 km. The spacecraft has been injected into an elliptical orbit that is 114 km away from the moon’s surface at its nearest point and 18,072 km at its farthest.

August 21: Second lunar orbit manoeuvre performed.

August 22: First set of pictures of Moon taken by Chandrayaan-2's LI4 Camera from an altitude of about 2,650 km from the lunar surface released by ISRO.

August 26: ISRO releases second set of images of lunar surface captured by Terrain Mapping Camera-2 (TMC-2) of Chandrayaan-2.

August 28: Third lunar bound orbit manoeuvre performed.

August 30: Chandrayaan-2 successfully completed the fourth Lunar Orbit Maneuver. The spacecraft has reached into an orbit that is 124 km from the lunar surface at its nearest point, and 164 km at the farthest.

September 1: Chandrayaan-2 successfully completed fifth and final Lunar Orbit Maneuver. The spacecraft reached into an orbit 119 km from the lunar surface at its nearest point, and 127 km at the farthest.

September 2: Vikram, the lander module of Chandrayaan-2, detached itself from the main spacecraft and started orbiting the moon independently, preparing itself for the descent to the lunar surface.

 September 3: The Vikram lander of the Chandrayaan-2 mission moved away from the main spacecraft and closer to the Moon, lowering itself into an orbit that was 104 km from the lunar surface at the nearest point and 128 km at the furthest.

September 4: The Vikram Lander of the Chandrayaan-2 mission successfully carried out the second de-orbiting manoeuvre. “With this manoeuvre, the required orbit for the Vikram Lander to commence its descent towards the surface of the Moon is achieved,” ISRO said in a statement.

September 7: Vikram lander began its powered descent, normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km, but lost contact with ground stations minutes before the crucial touchdown on the lunar surface.

(With inputs from PTI)