Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft covers two-thirds of distance to Moon, Lunar Orbit Injection tomorrow
Bengaluru (PTI): The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has covered about two-thirds of the distance to the Moon since its launch on July 14, ISRO said on Friday.
Over five moves in the three weeks since, ISRO has been lifting the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft into orbits farther and farther away from Earth. Then, on August 1 in a key manoeuvre -- a slingshot move -- the craft was sent successfully towards the Moon from Earth's orbit.
Following this trans-lunar injection, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft escaped from orbiting the Earth and began following a path that would take it to the vicinity of the moon. Tomorrow, in another crucial manoeuvre the spacecraft will be injected into Moon's orbit.
The Lunar Orbit Injection (LOI) is set for around 7 pm on August 5, the Bengaluru-headquartered national space agency said on Friday.
The manoeuvre will be performed when Chandrayaan-3 is at the closest point to the Moon (perilune), ISRO said.
The space agency earlier said that the health of India's third lunar mission is normal and a soft-landing on the lunar surface would be attempted on August 23.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
