Chandrayaan 2 launching from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota (Source: ISRO)
India’s second mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan 2, was trending on Twitter before it even had a chance to get off the launchpad. After all, the mission was finally set to go after seven attempts had already been thwarted.
Chandrayaan 2 only gained more traction over the next seven weeks as it got closer the Moon to attempt a soft-landing. But on the day of reckoning, the mission’s lander — Vikram — crashed instead.
Although the mission was not entirely a failure, since the orbiter was successfully running circles around the Moon, support poured in from all corners of the world. And, the excitement wasn’t over just yet.
With the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) being vague about the lander’s fate, Chandrayaan 2 trended yet again once the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shared pictures of Vikram’s crash site last week.