Los Angeles: Despite being unsuccessful to soft-land on the Moon's unchartered south pole, India's Chandrayaan-2 Moon mission had drawn much praise from all quarters of the world, not just from the scientific and space exploration community but even from celebrities and sports icons.
The latest among them is Brad Pitt, who rang up the International Space Station (ISS) to share his excitement for India's much-lauded moon mission with NASA astronaut Nick Hague.
"I got to go to JPL last week, and it was on the day when India was landing on the Moon, and the United States were assisting them in that effort. Could you see that from where you are?" the Academy Award nominee asked.
"No, unfortunately, I, along with the rest of the crew, had to follow along with the news reports," Hague replied.
Pitt was promoting his upcoming movie, a space drama, "Ad Astra". The ISS crew previewed the movie, considered one of the actor's best and generating a lot of Oscar buzz.
Pitt later asked Hague a question in a lighter vein: who was more believable in the role of an astronaut, he or fellow actor and close friend George Clooney.
Clooney starred in the 2013 space film "Gravity".
Hague responded with laughter and said, "You were. Absolutely."
The ISRO ground station lost communication with the lander 'Vikram' after a hard hit during its final descent. It was then just 2.1km from the lunar surface.
Netizens took to social media platforms to congratulate the Indian Space Research Organisation and encouraged them not to lose hope.
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. Any nations that bravely strive to explore space further deserves our respect," wrote a user on social media.
The Australian Space Agency tweeted: "The #VikramLander was just a few km short of realising its mission to the Moon. To the team at @isro, we applaud your efforts and the commitment to continue our journey into space."
Chris G-NSF, who writes for NASASpaceight, said: "If Vikram failed to land - which it looks like - REMEMBER the ORBITER is where 95% of the experiments are. The Orbiter is safely in Lunar orbit and performing its mission. This is not a total failure. Not at all."
Chandrayaan-2 was launched into space on July 22 by India's heavy-lift rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV Mk III) in a textbook style.
(With inputs from PTI)
