Communication Lost With Chandrayaan Lander Before Landing, PM Consoles ISRO Chief

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in words of encouragement told scientists of space agency ISRO that the best is yet to come in India's space programme, hours after the space agency announced that communication with the Chandrayaan 2 lander "Vikram" was lost. ISRO chief K Sivan, in an emotional moment, hugged PM Modi after the setback in the ambitious lunar mission. Vikram's descent was as planned and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km, the space agency said. Subsequently, communication from the lander to the ground stations was lost, ISRO said, adding that data was being analysed.