India came 0.0006 per cent close to becoming the first country to do a soft-landing on the lunar south pole. In the early hours of Saturday, as Prime Minister Modi looked on and millions watched nationwide with bated breath, Vikram -- named after the father of India's space programme (Vikram Sarabhai) -- went silent just 2.1 kilometres above the lunar surface.
Chandrayaan 2 traveled a distance of 3,83,998 km out of 3,84,000 km between Earth and Moon.
But all isn't bad. Chandrayaan-2 will circle and study the Moon remotely for a year, safely from the lunar orbit. A successful landing would have made India just the fourth country to land a vessel on the lunar surface, and only the third to operate a robotic rover there.
Here is what you should know about India's moonshot to history:
* Isro is going through key data sets to ascertain Vikram's landing fate. Only 5 per cent of the mission has been lost - the lander (Vikram), and Pragyan, the rover. The remaining 95 per cent, that is the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter, is orbiting the moon successfully.
* Former ISRO director D Sasikumar told ANI that the communication line between the lander and the orbiter was still on. The communication data which is missing is being analysed for divergence. It would help the scientists at Isro unravel the fate in the 15 minutes to landing.
* In an official communication, ISRO said Vikram's descent was as planned and a "normal performance" was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, communication from lander to the ground stations was lost.
* Vikram and Pragyan, together, were expected to last at least one lunar day, or 14 Earth days, on the moon’s surface. It is in these 14 Earth days, the duo could have given insights on the lunar surface.
* Chandrayaan will try to establish contact with the lander and locate its landing site while in orbit.
* The 2,379-kg orbiter carries eight scientific payloads for mapping the lunar surface and study the exosphere (outer atmosphere) of the Moon. The lunar south pole is believed to have deposits of water ice, a resource invaluable for future human settlements on the moon.
* Isro plans to send astronauts to space by 2022; an Orbiter mission to Mars between 2022 and 2023; another mission to Moon -- Chandrayaan-3 -- in late 2020s; Venus mission in 2023; Mission for Sun and will build a space station.