PM to witness soft-landing on Moon as it happens

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in the city to witness live, Chandrayaan-2's landing module 'Vikram' trying to pull off a historic soft-landing on the lunar surface in the early hours of Saturday.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in Bengaluru on September 6 and will view the Chandrayaan landing during the wee hours on September 7 at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) near Peenya, and will leave for Mumbai on the same day," Karnataka government's official release said.

Around 60- 70 students from across the country will be watching live India's proposed soft landing on the moon in the early hours of Saturday, along with Prime Minister Modi, ISRO has said.

Two top scoring students in ISRO's online space quiz contest from each State and Union territory have been invited by the space agency to watch at its centre here the landing of Chandrayaan-2's 'Vikram' module on the Moon.

'Vikram' (with rover 'Pragyaan' housed inside) is expected to touch down on the surface of the moon on September seven, between 1.30 am and 2.30 am.

A successful landing will make India the fourth country after Russia, the US and China to achieve a soft landing on the moon.

But it will be the first to launch a mission to the unexplored south pole region of the Moon.

Insisting that the enormity of flood-related damages in the state warranted maximum aid from the Centre, Karnataka Chief Minsiter B S Yediyurappa had recently said, he would apprise the situation to Prime Minister Modi during his Bengaluru visit on September seven.