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According to the command control at ISRO, Chandrayaan’s liquid engine was fired for 550 seconds on Sunday morning at 7:08 IST to take it on a journey toward the moon. The commands for Chandrayaan-1 are sent from the Space Control Centre (SCC) located at the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Centre (ISTRAAC), Bangalore through two bowl-shaped antennae set up at Byalalu village, about 40 km away.

“The firing was meant for putting the satellite into an elliptical orbit which will take it closer to the moon. Chandrayaan has covered 1,64,600km since it was launched” said Shiv Kumar, Director of ISTRAC.

Earlier on Saturday when the radio commands were sent from the Space Control Centre in Bangalore to the spacecraft, the propulsion system on board Chandrayaan-1 raised its orbit to an apogee of 74,715 km. and a perigee of 336 km. This was the first time that an Indian spacecraft had gone beyond the 36,000 km high geo-synchronous orbit and reached an altitude twice that height.

Chandrayaan-1 will reach its final lunar orbit of 100km above the moon’s surface by mid-november, sources at ISRO said.