Chandrayaan: PM Modi interacted with students at the ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru.

Highlights PM Modi interacted with students at the ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru.

Students were there to watch Chandrayaan 2 mega event

Communication with Chandrayaan 2 lander was lost before touch down

Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with around 70 school students from across the country who were at the headquarters of space agency ISRO to witness the landing of Chandrayaan 2 on the moon's surface. After gloom over the space agency's loss of contact with Chandrayaan 2's moon lander, PM Modi walked up to the students and told them not to be disappointed by setbacks in life but strive hard to overcome them.

When a student asked PM Modi to give him tips to become the President of India, he jovially asked the boy why he doesn't aim to become the Prime Minister instead.

"My aim is to become President of India so what steps I should follow," asked the boy, visibly thrilled to be up close with the Prime Minister.

"Why President? Why not Prime Minister?" replied PM Modi.

The students surrounded PM Modi and shared their thoughts on the ambitious lunar mission. The students were selected to watch the mega event live after they cleared an online space quiz last month.

"What will you tell people back home," PM Modi asked a student. She replied that she would say communication to Chandrayaan's lander, Vikram, was lost.

"Study well, work hard and have self-confidence to achieve anything in life," PM Modi told the students during the brief interaction.

PM Modi had a brief chat with students from Bhutan and asked them whether they made friends in India.The PM also gave autographs and posed for a photo with all the students before he left the centre.

The Prime Minister also told the students to "aim big in life and divide targets into small parts. Go for achieving these small goals. Forget about what you missed and never let disappointment enter in the way."

He later tweeted that the scientists gave their best.

Seconds before it was supposed to touch down on the moon's surface early on Saturday, communication with the Chandrayaan 2 lander was lost, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

India had hoped to create history by becoming the first nation to reach closest to the lunar south pole but as the landing time of 1:55 am came and went, there were no signs that the mission had succeeded.

(With inputs from ANI and IANS)