Chandrayaan-2: Joy to despair for Rajasthan students

JAIPUR: As the world watched live coverage of

Chandrayaan-2

space mission on their TV sets, two students from Rajasthan witnessed all shades of the event from excitement to despair at ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru.


Prabhat Singh of

Alwar

along with Garima Sharma of Churu had entered space mission at 12 midnight to witness the historic moment. However, they are yet to believe that Vikram had lost its communication.

The duo were among the 70 students selected by the ISRO through an online competition in August with a reward to watch event with PM Narendra Modi and space scientists.

Singh is aspiring to become a space scientist. “I was never excited to enter into a place which is responsible for the space mission of India. The excitement further reached its zenith after PM Narendra Modi entered the section. As we were watching the journey of the lander on two big screens hearing the commentary of a scientist, all of a sudden the commentary stopped. Scientists, who were sitting on the front bench, were seen making frantic efforts on their system,” said Singh.

For the next five minutes, students couldn't get the sense of what is happening until some scientists walked up to the PM and briefed him about the lost contact.

"We overheard a junior scientist informed a section of dignitaries sitting next to us that we lost contact with the Chandrayaan-2," said Singh.

Garima Sharma, who was sitting in the first row of the students’ section, said, “The perfect landing could have been the best moment of my life. It was like watching a Hollywood movie on a space mission. I couldn’t believe until a scientist briefed us about the lost connection with the lander. Our joy turned into sadness and I am yet to believe that I had missed the historic moment,” said Sharma.

The duo along with 68 students missed the opportunity of meeting the PM who walked out after the mission declared incomplete.