Chandrayaan-2, India’s daring expedition to the unexplored south pole of our Moon hit a roadblock on Saturday when the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) lost control with the Vikram Lander of Chandrayaan-2, a few seconds before scheduled landing was supposed to happen.
Had it achieved this feat, ISRO would have done something that very few countries have tried to do before. Nevertheless, our space organization has made us proud of its progress to the ultimate cusp of astronomical courage.
Well, even our competitors in this field have applauded our efforts and that is a victory in itself. Here is what the other nations had to say about our Chandrayaan-2 mission’s progress on Saturday.
Wired (American Magazine)
Here is what was published in the online edition of the magazine, “The loss of the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover it was carrying to the lunar surface would be a big blow for India’s space program…But all is not lost for the mission,”.
The New York Times
This popular newspaper applauded ISRO’s achievements and effort to reach the darker side of the moon. Regarding Chandrayaan-2’s deviation at the last moment, it was published that, “an orbiter remains in operation – would delay the country’s bid to join an elite club of nations that have landed in one piece on the moon’s surface”. The publication also reminded that this mission is a “partial failure” and there is a lot more that will come out of this effort.
Le Monde (French publication)
French newspaper admitted that the success percentage in soft-landing on the moon is indeed very less. They wrote,” So far, scientists point out, only 45 percent of missions aimed at alleviating have been successful.” They also reiterated our views that it was “A broken dream” for the country. Nevertheless, our courage to go ahead with an unmanned mission was highlighted by the newspaper. They quoted a NASA expert as, “Imagine a spaceship crossing the space at a speed ten times faster than an airplane, and almost stopping to land softly on the Earth – all in minutes and, more importantly, without any human intervention”.
The Guardian (British Newspaper)
Under the title, India’s moon landing suffers last-minute communications loss, the newspaper appreciated our efforts by writing,” India is going where probably the future settlements of humans will be in 20 years, in 50 years, 100 years”.
The Washington Post
The popular publication wrote, “Of the 38 soft-landing attempts made on the moon, only about half have succeeded”. They also added, “India had hoped its Chandrayaan-2 mission would make it the fourth nation to land on the moon after the United States, Russia, and China,”.
CNN
With the headline, ‘India’s historic landing on moon’s polar surface may have failed’, CNN said, “The control room in the city of Bengaluru filled with scientists underwent a visible change as updates from the lander faded. The crowd had celebrated every small step during the controlled descent and at 1:55 a.m. local time on Saturday, the moment the landing was expected to take place, silence descended,”.
All is Not Lost
Going by the reactions around the world, it has to be admitted that a developing nation like India tried to achieve something that was hardly heard of. Hence, at this point in time, our ISRO must be encouraged to continue its efforts without not considering this failure as a setback.
