You inspire us, NASA tells ISRO

Bengaluru, Sep 08: NASA has commended ISRO's attempt to place the Vikram Lander of the Chandrayaan 2 mission on the moon's South Pole.

The US space agency also said that it looks forward to working with ISRO and explore the solar system together.

"Space is hard. We commend Isro's attempt to land their #Chandrayaan2 mission on the Moon's South Pole. You have inspired us with your journey and we look forward to future opportunities to explore our solar system together," Nasa said in a tweet.

A normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 kilometres, ISRO said after the Vikram Lander lost communication with the ground station, ISRO had said on Saturday.

13 minutes after the Vikram began its descent that communication with the Chandrayaan 2 lander was lost. The lander failed to make a smooth soft landing and was unable to bring down its speed to the required level.

The failure took place 13 minutes after the descent began hoping to reduce its speed from 6,048 km per hour to 7 km per hour. The reduction to 7 kilometre or lower was required for a soft landing.

The moon lander, Vikram was separated from its orbiting mothership. It performed a series of manoeuvres to lower its altitude for a touchdown between 1.30 am and 2.30 am.