Korea’s first lunar orbiter ‘Danuri’ started entering lunar orbit at dawn today (17th), the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (Kangwooyeon) announced.
According to Korean media such as Yonhap News, Danuri performed the first lunar mission orbital maneuver to enter lunar mission orbit around 2:45 am.
The entry maneuver is the process of reducing speed so that Danuri can be stably captured by lunar gravity and orbit.
Danuri will carry out its second maneuver on the 21st, and will settle into lunar orbit through a total of five mission orbital maneuvers by the 28th.
Previously, Hangwooyeon launched Danuri in the United States on August 5 using the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Danuri’s entry into lunar orbit is 135 days after launch.
US Ambassador to Korea Philip Goldberg commented on his Twitter at the time, “This is a historic moment for Korea, and a great example of the growing partnership between the US and Korea extending to space.”
VOA News