Euphoria grips US scientists

New York: US space scientists, including those from NASA, are all over the Moon as they await with bated breath for India's ambitious lunar mission Chandrayaan-2's historic soft landing on the Moon in the early hours of Saturday.

Chandrayaan-2's landing module 'Vikram' will begin its final descent to pull off a historic soft landing on the lunar surface on Saturday. 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 lunar South Pole.

The US space community believes that the landmark mission would help them enrich their understanding of the Moon's geology. The Indian embassy here has arranged a live screening and presentation on Chandrayaan-2's landing on Friday (local time).

The community of space scientists from NASA would be watching every minute of the historic landing.

Moon's South Pole, where India would be landing its six-wheeled rover named Pragyan, could become one of the most important places on the moon's surface, said Space.Com, adding that it will become the southernmost spot on the moon to be visited by a spacecraft.