India’s Vikram lander, with it the Pragyan rover, before launch. Image credit: The Verge

Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Monday congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as the Chandrayaan-2 moon lander Vikram successfully separated from its orbiter.

The lander separated from the orbiter at 1.15 pm on Monday.

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Informing about the same, Singh tweeted, “At 1.15 pm IST today, India achieved a major Space milestone. Kudos #ISRO. One step closer to #Moon. #Chandrayaan 2 #VikramLander successfully separated ahead of the landing on Lunar Surface on 7th September.”

“The Vikram Lander successfully separated from Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter at 1315 Hrs IST today (September 02, 2019),” ISRO tweeted.

“The Vikram Lander is currently located in an orbit of 119 km x 127 km. The Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter continues to orbit the Moon in its existing orbit,” the tweet added.

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“The health of the Orbiter and Lander is being monitored from the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru with support from Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennas at Bylalu, near Bengaluru. All the systems of Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter and Lander are healthy,” it added.

Chandrayaan 2 is scheduled to touch down the lunar surface on September 7.

India’s second moon mission Chandrayaan-2 has successfully entered the moon’s orbit on August 20, 2019.

Among those responsible for Chandrayaan-2 successful launch, the role of three scientists from Assam- JN Goswami, Dipak Kumar Das and Hidam Rajeev Singh.

ALSO READ: DK Das: Another Assamese behind Chandrayaan

Astrophysicist JN Goswami is the chairman of the advisory board for Chandrayaan-2 mission.

Dipak Kumar Das is the director of ISRO’s Space Applications Centre.

Hridam Rajeev Singh was a member of the team which produced the Stage I Solid Stage Rocket Boosters for Chandrayaan 2.