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India’s moon shot ends in failure as contact lost with Vikram lunar lander during final approach
- Spacecraft was 2km from surface, minutes before a scheduled touchdown
- Successful landing would have made India fourth country to land a vessel on moon
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India’s attempt to land a probe on the moon’s southern pole failed, dealing a major blow to its ambitious space programme.
The country’s space agency lost communication with a lander and a rover near the satellite’s surface, minutes before a scheduled touchdown. The Chandrayaan-2 craft’s descent was normal until an altitude of 2.1km before communication was lost early on Saturday in India, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, K. Sivan, said in a televised broadcast.
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Fifty years after Neil Armstrong’s fabled first steps on the lunar surface, India tried to become just the fourth nation to pull off a soft landing on the moon. Only the former Soviet Union, the US and China have managed that without damaging their vehicles. Chandrayaan-2, which means “moon vehicle” in Sanskrit, had planned to analyse virgin territory on Earth’s closest neighbour for signs of water and helium-3.
Hours after the failed attempt, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who watched the attempt to land with dozens of schoolchildren from around the country, met top ISRO scientists in the mission control centre in Bangalore. In a televised speech invoking nationalism, Modi said India’s resolve to conquer space has only become stronger after the failure, and went on to comfort a teary-eyed Sivan with a long embrace.
“You came as close as you could. Stay steady and look ahead,” Modi said in the 25-minute speech. “Resilience and tenacity are central to India’s ethos.”
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