The Indian Space Research Organisation on Thursday released the first image of the moon captured by Chandrayaan-2. The space agency said the image was taken at a height of about 2,650 km from the lunar surface.

The agency identified two significant moon landmarks on the image – Apollo crater and Mare Orientale basin.

The Apollo crater is located on the southern hemisphere of the moon and Mare Orientale basin is believed to be nearly 3 billion years old, and shaped like a target ring bull’s-eye. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said it was one of the most striking largescale lunar features.

On Tuesday, India’s second Moon mission, Chandrayaan-2, had successfully entered the lunar orbit. The spacecraft is days away from soft landing on the moon, which is scheduled for September 7. ISRO Chairman K Sivan had said the next major event will happen on September 2, when the lander – called Vikram – will separate from the orbiter and proceed to perform a series of “complex braking manoeuvres” before attempting to soft land in the south polar region of the moon.

Earlier this month, the ISRO released a set of five images of the earth captured by Chandrayaan-2.

If the mission is successful, India will become the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the moon after the United States, Russia and China. A successful landing would make Chandrayaan-2 the first lunar probe on the south polar region of the moon.

Also read: What does Chandrayaan-2 hope to accomplish?

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