The image was taken at 12.33 a.m. IST on August 22 by theChandrayaan 2’s LI4 camera.

The Indian Space Research Organisation has released thefirst moon image captured by Chandrayaan 2. The image was taken at a height ofabout 2,650 km from the lunar surface, ISRO tweeted. The Mare Orientale basinand Apollo craters are identified in the picture tweeted by ISRO.

The image was taken on August 21 at 7.03 p.m. UTC (12.33a.m. IST on August 22) by the Chandrayaan 2’s LI4 camera, ISRO said.On August4, ISRO released the first picture of the Earth captured by Chandrayaan 2’sVikram Lander.On August 21, Chandrayaan 2, a day old in its orbit around themoon, started undergoing phased manoeuvres to shorten the elliptical orbit inpreparation for the September 7 landing. ISRO said it compressed the currentelliptical orbit to 4,412 km at the far end from the moon. The orbit exercisewas performed for about 20 minutes from 12.50 p.m. by firing the onboardmotors.

Earlier in the day, ISRO chief K. Sivan said the crucialprocess of taking up soft landing of the Vikram Lander will be taken up in theearly hours of September 7.

ISRO scientists in Bengaluru would be engaged in thisprocess which is expected to be completed by 1.55 a.m., he told reporters atthe airport in Chennai on August 22. “It is expected to make a soft landing (onthe surface of the moon) at around 1.40 a.m. and (the process will be)completed by 1.55 a.m. At the global level this is an important mission. It isbeing keenly watched by everyone,” he said.

Elaborating about the complexity involved, he said the speedof the spacecraft needs to be brought down to “zero”.

Chandrayaan 2 successfully entered the lunar orbit on August20 by performing the Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) manoeuvre. The second suchmanoeuvre was successfully performed on August 21. The next lunar bound orbit manoeuvreis scheduled for August 28 between 5.30 a.m. and 6.30 a.m. IST.

After two more manoeuvres, the Lander will separate from theOrbiter on September 2 and enter into a 100kmX30km orbit around the moon. Thenit will perform a series of complex braking manoeuvres to soft land in theSouth Pole region of the moon.