We were almost there! India is proud of our scientists: YS Jagan Mohan Reddy

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday greeted and appreciated Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for their 'exemplary efforts' and asserted that the nation is standing with ISRO at this hour.

Following ISRO's announcement of communication loss with 'Vikram Lander', Reddy took to Twitter and lauded ISRO's hard work and great efforts.

"We were almost there! India is proud of our scientists. A minor setback in the last stanza is a stepping stone for success. The nation stands with ISRO team at this hour and appreciates the exemplary efforts," Reddy tweeted with an emoji of clapping hands.

The Vikram lander was planned to land on the far side of the moon between 1:30 am to 2:30 am on the intervening night of Friday-Saturday. This would have been followed by rover (Pragyan) roll-out between 5:30 am to 6:30 am.

ISRO had lost communication with Vikram lander of Chandrayaan 2 moments before it was preparing to make a soft-landing on the South Pole region of the Moon.

In the wee hours of Saturday, ISRO chairman K Sivan announced that communication with the lander was lost at 2.1 km from the lunar surface.

The Vikram lander was successfully separated from Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter on September 2. The Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter continues to orbit the Moon in its existing orbit.

After revolving around the Earth's orbit for nearly 23 days, the spacecraft began its journey to the moon on August 14.

The mission took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on July 22.

India's second mission to the moon was approved by the cabinet on September 2008, just before the launch of Chandrayaan 1.

-ANI

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