PM Modi Consoles Emotional ISRO Chief

Prime Minister Narendra Modi consoled emotional Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Chief K Sivan on Saturday morning, hours after the space agency announced that it lost contact with Chandrayaan 2 lander during a historic moon landing attempt.

Modi,who flew to Bengaluru on Friday night to watch the planned touch down of theVikram lander, hugged the ISRO Chief as he broke down and patted him on theback after a speech at the space agency headquarters where he said, "Ourdetermination to touch moon has become even stronger and the best is yet tocome."

In a setback on early morning of Saturday, contact was lost with the moon lander Vikram minutes before it was due to touch down near the lunar South Pole. If the landing was executed successfully as planned, India would have become the fourth country after the United States, Russia and China to soft land on the moon.

ThePrime Minister, while addressing with the ISRO scientists said that resilienceand tenacity are central to India's ethos. He said that in the glorioushistory, they have faced moments that may have slowed the people but they havenever crushed the spirit. "We have bounced back again and gone on to dospectacular things. This is why our civilization stands tall," said Modi.

Modifurther stated that as important as the final result is the journey and theeffort, he can proudly say that the effort was worth it and so was the journey."Our team worked hard, travelled far and those teachings will always remainwith us. The learning from today will make is stronger and better," said Modi.

Modiwas seen hugging the ISRO Chief outside the space centre after the speech.