Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

India loses contact with Moon lander

INDIA’S space programme suffered a setback Saturday (7) after losing contact with unmanned spacecraft moments before it was due to make a historic soft landing on the Moon.

Prime minister Narendra Modi sought to comfort glum scientists and a stunned nation from mission control in Bengaluru, saying India was still "proud" and clasping the visibly emotional space agency head in a lengthy hug.


Blasting off in July, the emerging Asian giant had hoped to become just the fourth country after the US, Russia, and regional rival China to make a successful Moon landing, and the first on the lunar South Pole.

But in the early hours of Saturday local time, as Modi looked on and millions watched nationwide with bated breath, Vikram named after the father of India's space programme went silent just 2.1 kilometres (1.3 miles) above the lunar surface.

"The Vikram lander descent was (going) as planned and normal performance was observed," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman Kailasavadivoo Sivan said.

"Subsequently the communication from the lander to the ground station was lost," he said after initial applause turned to bewilderment at the operations room.

"The data is being analysed."

The Chandrayaan-2 (Moon Vehicle 2) orbiter, which will circle and study the Moon remotely for a year, is however "healthy, intact, functioning normally and safely in the lunar orbit", the ISRO said.

Freshly re-elected Modi had hoped to bask in the glory of a successful mission, but on Saturday he deftly turned consoler-in-chief in a speech at mission control broadcast live on television and to his 50 million Twitter followers.

"Sisters and brothers of India, resilience and tenacity are central to India's ethos. In our glorious history of thousands of years, we have faced moments that may have slowed us, but they have never crushed our spirit," he said.

"We have bounced back again," he added.

"When it comes to our space programme, the best is yet to come."

Other Indians also took to Twitter to offer words of encouragement. "The important thing is we took off and had the Hope and Belief we can," said Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan.

Indian media offered succour by quoting a NASA factsheet that said out of 109 lunar missions in the past six decades, 48 have failed.

Chandrayaan-2 took off on July 22 carrying an orbiter, lander and rover almost entirely designed and made in India the mission cost a relatively modest $140 million, a week after an initial launch was halted just before blast-off.

ISRO had acknowledged before the soft landing that it was a complex manoeuvre, which Sivan called "15 minutes of terror".

It was carrying rover Pragyan- "wisdom" in Sanskrit which was due to emerge several hours after touchdown to scour the Moon's surface, including for water.

According to Mathieu Weiss, a representative in India for France's space agency CNES, this is vital to determining whether humans could spend extended periods on the Moon.

That would mean the Moon being used one day as a pitstop on the way to Mars the next objective of governments and private spacefaring programmes such as Elon Musk's Space X.

In March Modi hailed India as a "space superpower" after it shot down a low-orbiting satellite, a move prompting criticism for the amount of "space junk" created.

Asia's third-largest economy also hopes to tap into the commercial possibilities of space.

China in January became the first to land a rover on the far side of the Moon. In April, Israel's attempt failed at the last minute when its craft apparently crashed onto the lunar surface.

India is also preparing Gaganyaan, its first manned space mission, and wants to land a probe on Mars. In 2014, it became only the fourth nation to put a satellite into orbit around the Red Planet.

 (AFP)

More For You

Starmer faces revolt as welfare bill vote sparks Labour uproar

Keir Starmer speaks during a reception for public sector workers at 10 Downing Street in London on July 1, 2025. (Photo by CARL COURT/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Starmer faces revolt as welfare bill vote sparks Labour uproar

PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer faced the most serious test of his leadership on Tuesday (1) as his government’s flagship welfare reforms came under fierce attack from within his own party.

The day was marked by emotional speeches, last-minute concessions, and a deep sense of division among Labour MPs, many of whom said the proposed changes would push vulnerable people into poverty

Keep ReadingShow less
Lucy Letby

Letby, from Hereford in western England, was charged in 2020 after a series of deaths in the hospital's neo-natal unit.

Three senior hospital staff arrested in Lucy Letby case probe

POLICE on Tuesday said they had arrested three senior staff members at the hospital where nurse Lucy Letby was found guilty of murdering seven babies. The arrests were made on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

The investigation was launched in 2023 at the Countess of Chester Hospital (CoCH) in northwest England, following Letby’s conviction and life sentence for killings that took place between 2015 and 2016.

Keep ReadingShow less
food-delivery-getty

Uber Eats and Deliveroo will tighten ID checks, including facial verification, to curb illegal migrant work after UK government pressure. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty Images

Food delivery platforms to step up ID checks after migrant work abuse reports

FOOD delivery companies Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat have agreed to strengthen security measures, including facial verification checks, to prevent irregular migrants from working through their platforms, following criticism from the UK government.

The announcement came after the Labour government summoned the three firms for a meeting in response to a report by The Sun which exposed how some migrants were bypassing rules and working illegally in the gig economy sector.

Keep ReadingShow less
David Joseph

Joseph has chaired several BRIT Awards shows and was an executive producer of the Oscar and BAFTA-winning 2015 documentary Amy.

David Joseph named new CEO of the RSA

THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS (RSA) has announced the appointment of David Joseph CBE as its next chief executive officer. He will take over the role in September, succeeding Andy Haldane.

Joseph previously served as chairman and CEO of Universal Music UK for 17 years. During his time at the company, he oversaw its transformation into a global exporter of British music and worked with several major international artists.

Keep ReadingShow less
Labour Rift Deepens as MPs Prepare for Crucial Welfare Bill Vote

People take part in a protest against disability welfare cuts on June 30, 2025 in London. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty Images

MPs to vote on welfare bill amid Labour divisions

DOZENS of Labour MPs are expected to vote against the government’s welfare reforms despite recent concessions aimed at easing opposition.

The government had initially planned to tighten eligibility for Personal Independence Payment (Pip) but later said the stricter rules would only apply to new claimants from November 2025.

Keep ReadingShow less