Rajya Sabha MP and Former Union Cabinet Minister, Dr Subramanian Swamy has praised ISRO for their commendable efforts as India neared historic success with Chandrayaan-2 on early Saturday morning. The Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-2 lost communication with ground station just 2.1 km before it landed on the south pole of the lunar surface which still remains unexplored. 

Swamy Praises ISRO

Swamy praised the team of scientists who worked relentlessly to reach the moon with Chandrayaan-2 in a tweet. He termed the performance of ISRO as ‘magnificent’ and lauded the efforts of the team of scientists. He also stated that no great achievement could happen without early setbacks.

READ | PM Modi to ISRO: 'Stay steady, look ahead'. Read his inspiring quotes

PM Modi addresses the Nation 

Earlier today, PM Narendra Modi had addressed the ISRO team and the nation from the ISRO Monitoring Centre in Bengaluru and commended the nearly achieved feat. He spoke about resilience and tenacity in the face of contact being lost with Chandrayaan-2's Vikram lander shortly before touchdown. He also consoled the ISRO team and showed solidarity through his words as he extolled the Chandrayaan-2 mission.

“Setbacks haven’t crushed our spirit. You have ventured into a place where no one went and came close as you could. Stay steady and look ahead,” the Prime Minister had said.

READ | PM Modi to ISRO: "You will give us several more reasons to smile"

Leaders Laud ISRO's Efforts

Apart from PM Modi, many senior leaders showed immense pride in the space agency and commended their efforts. VP Venkaiah Naidu tweeted that there was nothing to despair and ISRO had only lost communication with the lander and not the hopes of 1.3 billion Indians.

Captain Amarinder Singh hailed the space agency for their achievement of exemplary feats; while Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted, “India is Proud.”

Bhutan PM Lotay Tshering congratulated ISRO and said that he was proud of India and despite a setback, and the hard work shown by the ISRO's team was historical.

READ | ISRO official: Chandrayaan-2 orbiter healthy in lunar orbit

The Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-2 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. However, the lander lost communication with ground station soon after it overcame a major rough breaking phase just 2.1km before touchdown.

The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, however, continues to orbit the Moon, which PM Modi highlighted.

READ | Chandrayaan 2: Capt Amarinder Singh salutes ISRO for examplary feats