Bollywood celebrities express hope over Chandrayaan-2 landing

As 'Vikram', the lander of Chandrayaan-2 lost communication with the ground station at ISRO centre at Bengaluru, Bollywood celebrities expressed hope over the landing and hailed ISRO for its efforts.

Taking to his Twitter account, Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh, said that "what was achieved today was no small feat."

"We shall over come!!!!! Future belongs to those who believe in the beauty their dreams!! We are incredibly proud of the entire team of @isro - what was achieved today was no small feat," he tweeted.

Anupam Kher too expressed hope and wrote, "Go... #Chandrayan2... Go. Indians all over the world are with you."

Remaining hopeful, ace filmmaker Anubhav Sinha said, "it will happen, believe."

"Damn. I hope they can restore communication. Hard worK of so many and prayers of so many. It'll happen. BELIEVE!!! Well done ISRO," the 'Article 15' director tweeted.

"Vikram lander's descent was as planned and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, the communication from the lander to ground station was lost. The data is being analysed," ISRO chairman K Sivan had said.

The lander began its descent to the South Pole region of the moon on early Saturday morning.

The Vikram Lander successfully separated from Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter on September 2. The Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter continues to orbit the Moon in its existing orbit.

The Vikram lander was planned to land on the far side of the moon between 1:30 am to 2:30 am on the intervening night of Friday-Saturday. This would have been followed by rover (Pragyan) roll-out between 5:30 am to 6:30 am.

After revolving around the Earth's orbit for nearly 23 days, the craft began its journey to the moon on August 14.

The mission took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on July 22.India's second mission to the moon was approved by the cabinet in September 2008, just before the launch of Chandrayaan 1.