On September 7, 2019, India’s Chandrayaan-2 mission lost contact with its Vikram lander during the descent to the Moon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to the scientists at the ISRO center in Bengaluru. “We came very close, but we need to cover more ground,” he said. He ended: “The best is yet to come in our space programme. India is with you.”
As Modi was leaving, K. Sivan, the chairman of ISRO, broke down. Modi held him in a long, tight hug.