India lost communication with its lander just above the surface [Updated]
On Friday, India's Vikram lander will attempt to make a soft landing on the Moon's surface. This gallery highlights how that will happen. [credit: ISRO ]
4:45pm ET Update: According to the Indian Space Agency, ISRO, the lander's descent proceeded normally until an altitude of 2.1km above the Moon. After this time communication was lost with the spacecraft. Data from the descent will be analyzed to further assess what went wrong with the landing attempt.
Original post: In late July, an Indian rocket launched the Chandrayaan-2 mission from a spaceport in the Bay of Bengal. This is the second spacecraft India has sent to the Moon and the first to attempt a soft landing. Since launching, the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft has spent the last six weeks spiraling toward lunar orbit, reaching it, and releasing a lander that will attempt to reach the surface.
India seeks to make history with its Vikram lander-until now, only the US, Russian, and Chinese space agencies have ever successfully landed on the Moon. Friday is the day for this landing attempt, which should begin around or shortly after 3:30pm ET (19:30 UTC).
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