PM Modi arrives in Bengaluru to witness Chandrayaan-2's landing

Bengaluru, Sep 06: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday arrived in Bengaluru to witness the historic landing of the Chandrayaan-2 on the Moon in the early hours of Saturday.

On 7 September, at 1.40 am IS, Chandrayaan-2's Vikram lander will start performing powered descent and touch down 15 minutes later, at 1.55 am IST.

Upon landing, the Prime Minister was received by Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, Union ministers DV Sadanand Gowda and Pralhad Joshi.

Modi landed at the Yelahanka base of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Bengaluru. The Prime Minister will witness landing at the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (Istrac) in the Peenya.

Earlier on Friday, Modi expressed his excitement at the extraordinary moment in the history of India's space programme and urged people across the country to watch the space feat.

Chandrayaan 2, which was launched on July 22, will attempt a touchdown near the moon's south pole at 1:43 am on Saturday. It's a three-module spacecraft comprising an orbiter, lander and rover. 60 students from across the nation will watch it live along with prime minister Narendra Modi and ISRO scientists.

If all goes as planned, the Rs 978 crore mission will rank India as the first country to land a spacecraft moon's south pole and fourth to explore the moon.

During the process of descent, the camera on the body of the lander will take pictures of the lunar surface. It will also capture immediate images of the Moon upon landing as well as of the deployment and movement of the rover.

The first pictures will be available about 5.5 hours after landing, said Sivan. These will be released by 7.30 am IST on 7 September.

Upon successful landing, India will become the fourth country to soft-land on the Moon, after Russia, USA, and China.