Kadaba, Aug 21 (IANS): Special worship was performed at the famous Sri Kukke Shree Subrahmanya temple in Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district for the success of Chandrayaan-3 mission on the occasion of Naga Panchami festival celebrated with much fervour on Monday.

The prayers were done in the name of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The temple management has offered 'Karthika Puja', 'Maha Puja'. Special 'ksheera abhishekam' (offering milk to deity by pouring it on an idol was carried out for the success of the moon mission.

Kukke Subramanya is a famous and much revered Hindu temple dedicated to serpent god. Thousands of devotees visit the pilgrimage center every day. The Indian space agency on last Thursday afternoon successfully detached the moon lander from the main spacecraft Chandrayaan-3.

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft comprises a propulsion module (weighing 2,148 kg), a lander (1,723.89 kg) and a rover (26 kg). “Thanks for the ride, mate! " said the Lander Module (LM). LM is successfully separated from the Propulsion Module (PM). LM is set to descend to a slightly lower orbit upon a deboosting planned for tomorrow around 1600 Hrs., IST,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had tweeted.

The main purpose of India’s third moon mission, costing about Rs 600 crore, is to land the lander softly on the moon. The Chandrayaan-2 mission failed as the lander called 'Vikram' crashed on to the moon.

According to the ISRO, the lander is expected to make a soft-landing near the South Pole of the moon on August 23 at 5.47 p.m. The lander will descend to the moon from a height of about 100 km from the moon's surface. The Chandrayaan-3 was put into orbit on July 14 in a copybook style by India's heavy lift rocket LVM3. The spacecraft completed orbiting around the earth and headed towards the moon on August 1.