ISRO announces Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission with targeted launch date in 2020

    India has announced plans for a third lunar mission, months after its last one crash landed on the Moon's surface.

    The chairman of India's space agency, K Sivan, said work was going "smoothly" on the Chandrayaan-3 unmanned mission.

    He said the country was aiming to launch the mission in 2020 but that it "may spill over" to 2021.

    If successful, it would make India the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, with only Russia, the United States and China having successfully put a mission on the Moon's surface so far.

    India’s last unmanned lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2 was due to soft land on the moon in September, but contact with the lander was lost in the final stages of the mission’s journey.

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