Bengaluru, Nov. 8 : An official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday confirmed that the spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 had entered the lunar orbit successfully.

S. Satish, spokesperson of ISRO said that the Chandrayaan-1 orbit would last around 800 seconds in 7,500km x 500km elliptical orbit around the moon.

"The lunar orbit insertion (LOI) will start around 5 p. m. and last around 800 seconds," Satish said.

Space experts have warned that the LOI has its attendant dangers while traversing through an area in which the gravitational forces of the earth and moon nearly cancel each other out. Even a small deviation could send the spacecraft crashing towards the moon or the earth, or on a path leading into deep space.

About 30 percent of unmanned moon missions of US and the former Soviet Union failed during an LOI.

One ISRO official admitted to being nervous and apprehensive about the LOI.

The main challenge is to ensure that the spacecraft accurately passes near the moon on Saturday at a "safe" distance of a few hundred kilometers.

The distance between the earth and the moon is 3,86,000 km. (ANI)