'ISRO spirit' in country, moon mission has united India: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said an "ISRO spirit" has gripped the country, which has been united by the moon mission Chandrayaan-2, and the nation now looks beyond success and failure.

He was addressing the BJP's 'Vijay Sankalp' rally here, kicking off the party's campaign for the assembly elections in Haryana, scheduled in October.

"On the night of September 7, 100 seconds after 1.50 am an incident awakened and united the entire country. Like (there is) a sportsman spirit, an ISRO spirit is running in the country. Countrymen are not ready to accept negativity," Modi said.

Recalling the early of hours of Saturday, when Chandrayaan-2's lander was scheduled to make a soft landing on the moon but suffered a setback, the prime minister said at 1.50 am, the entire country was sitting in front of television screens to watch the good news of Chandrayaan-2.

"In those 100 seconds whatever the country did, it reflected the mettle of 125 crore countrymen," said Modi, who had flown to Bengaluru to watch the planned touchdown of the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) lander 'Vikram'.

India's mission to soft-land on the moon suffered a setback, with 'Vikram' losing communication with ground stations, just 2.1 km from the lunar surface during its final descent. However, Sunday the ISRO said Vikram has been located on the lunar surface and it must have been a hard-landing,
"The country, which has the strength to live for its resolutions, imbibes the ISRO spirit," Modi said, adding that "the 100 seconds showed the entire country what is the power of hope and belief, and what is determination and capacity."