Bengaluru (PTI): ISRO on Tuesday said India's third lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 has completed its orbits around the Earth and is now heading towards the Moon.

A key manoeuvre to slingshot the spacecraft towards the Moon from Earth's orbit was carried out in the early hours of Tuesday. This move put Chandrayaan-3 in a translunar orbit moving it out of the Earth's orbit and closing in on the Moon's orbit. In around five days from now, the spacecraft will reach the Moon's orbit.

The slingshot was performed by ISRO scientists who, from the space centre here, fired Chandrayaan-3's onboard thrusters when the spacecraft was at the closest point to Earth (perigee).

"A successful perigee-firing performed at ISTRAC (ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network). ISRO has injected the spacecraft into the translunar orbit," it said.

"Chandrayaan-3 completes its orbits around the Earth and heads towards the moon," the national space agency said, adding, "Next stop: the moon."

"As it arrives at the moon, the Lunar-Orbit Insertion is planned for August 5, 2023," ISRO said.

An ISRO official told PTI that following the translunar injection, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft escaped from orbiting the Earth and is now following a path that would take it to the vicinity of the Moon. The ISRO had said it would attempt soft-landing on the lunar surface on August 23.

The spacecraft's orbit was progressively increased five times after the Chandrayaan-3 mission to Moon was launched on July 14.

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Bahraich (UP) (PTI): Two minor girls were injured in separate incidents of wolf attacks in the Bahraich district, forest department officials said on Saturday.

In the first incident on Friday, Anushka Nishad (5), daughter of Baliram from Mallahanpurwa village, was sleeping alone inside her house when a wolf entered and tried to carry her away, they said.

Hearing her screams, family members and villagers rushed to the spot. The wolf left the child, hearing the commotion, and ran towards the fields. The girl sustained minor injuries from the animal's teeth, the officials said.

Divisional Forest Officer Ram Singh Yadav described the attack as deliberate and cleverly planned, as it occurred precisely when Anushka's mother went out for a few moments.

On the same day, Nancy (4), daughter of Kamlesh Yadav, was playing outside her house in Baburi Tola village when a wolf suddenly attacked and dragged her away.

Villagers raised an alarm, and the wolf released the child and ran towards the sugarcane fields. The injured child was sent to the Kaiserganj Community Health Centre for treatment.

Divisional Forest Officer Ram Singh Yadav told reporters that both attacks involved wolves, adding that the entire area is plagued by the animal's activity.

Since September 9, such attacks in the Bahraich district have claimed 10 lives, including eight children and an elderly couple, and injured dozens of people, the officials said.

District Magistrate Akshay Tripathi met the families of the victims on Friday and consoled them.