TEHRAN, Sept 07 -India's attempt to become the first nation to put a spacecraft on the south pole of the moon is on hold. The country's lunar lander Vikram stopped relaying signals just moments before it was scheduled to touch down on the lunar surface.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) -The lander performed a series of breaking maneuvers on Friday, first so-called rough breaking, followed by fine breaking. The touchdown was expected sometime around 4:30 p.m. EDT.
On live broadcasts of the landing attempt, officials with the country's space agency, the Indian Space Research Organization, looked on with concern. Silence filled mission control.
ISRO Chairman K. Sivan said the agency needed to analyze data to determine what happened to the lander prior to touchdown.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on hand at mission control.
"Let's hope for the best," he told the scientists gathered there.
If Vikram's soft landing went as planned, India would be just the fourth country -- after the United States, Russia and China -- to put a spacecraft on the moon's surface.
The landing attempt was streamed live online by ISRO and National Geographic.
India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle launched Chandrayaan-2 in July. The probe spent a few weeks circling Earth before slinging itself into space in early August. The spacecraft was captured into lunar orbit by the moon's gravity on August 20.
The mission's lander is named for Vikram Sarabhai, considered the father of India's space agency and an important figure in the development modern science, physical research and atomic energy. Sarabhai died in a plane crash in 1966.
source:upi
Your Comment