Pakistan's first female astronaut Namira Salim has hailed the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for making an attempt to land on the Moon, saying it made the entire global space fraternity very proud.
"I congratulate India and ISRO on its historical attempt to make a successful soft landing of the Vikram lander at the South Pole of the Moon,” the astronaut was quoted as saying by Pakistani digital science magazine Scientia.
"The Chandrayaan-2 lunar mission is indeed a giant leap for South Asia which not only makes the region but the entire global space industry proud."
Salim stressed the need for regional development in South Asia’s space sector, adding that it shouldn’t matter which country in the region takes the lead.
On 7 September, ISRO lost contact with its Chandrayaan-2 lander minutes before its scheduled touchdown on the Moon.
The following day, the space agency said it had found the location of the Vikram landing module on the Moon's surface.
The Vikram module was supposed to deliver the 12 kg “Pragyan” lunar rover to the Moon's surface in order to explore the area around the Moon's South Pole.
The main spaceship, the Orbiter, will remain in lunar orbit for at least a year.
The mission was particularly important for India, because, if successful, it would have been the first time the country had made a soft landing on the Moon, as well as the first landing ever on the lunar South Pole.
