Puri

World renowned Odiya sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has come out with his latest artwork to wish the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) success with its latest space mission — its third moon lander, Chandrayaan-3, which is set to lift off from Sriharikota later on Friday.

Pattnaik created a 22 feet long sand art of Chandrayaan 3, installing 500 steel bowls and dishes with the message of "Vijayee Bhava" (Be Victorious), at Puri beach in Odisha on Thursday.

The countdown for Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar exploration mission, whicgh will make it only the fourth country to land its spacecraft on the surface of the moon, began on Thursday at 14:35:17 IST ahead of its scheduled take-off on Friday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

The spacecraft will be launched on a GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle. This will be a shot a redemption of sorts for ISRO, as its previous Chandrayaan-2 mission in 2019 failed after running into unforeseen challenges during its soft landing attempt.

The ‘Launch Rehearsal’ simulating the entire launch preparation and process has been concluded by the ISRO.