Journalism of Courage
Chandrayaan-2's Vikram lander failed to make a smooth soft-landing as it was unable to bring down its speed to the required level. The 1,471-kg lander of Chandrayaan-2 - first Indian mission to explore the lunar terrain with home-grown technology - is named Vikram after Dr Vikram A Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space programme. (PTI Photo)
The failure happened 13 minutes after Vikram began its descent. It was a little over two kilometres away from the moon’s surface. Earlier in the day, contact from the lander to the ground stations was lost during its powered descent to the Lunar surface minutes before the planned touch-down. (PTI Photo)
ISRO chief K Sivan confirmed that communication with the lander had been lost and said that data was being analysed. (AP Photo)
ISRO said the lander’s descent went as per plan and normal performance was observed up to at altitude of 2.1 kms. It travelled a distance of almost 585 km in a parabolic path before it lost contact. (PTI Photo)
Minutes after the lander lost contact, PM Modi boosted the morale of the ISRO team and said, “What we have achieved is not small. There will be ups and downs and Chandrayaan-2 is not a small mission, we should hope for the best.” (PTI Photo)
However, even as the lander lost contact with ISRO in the final minutes of its descent, the space agency Saturday said that the Orbiter component of the spacecraft is healthy and safe in lunar orbit. Former ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair Saturday said that Chandrayaan-2 has achieved 95 per cent of its mission objectives.(PTI Photo)
