BANGALORE, India — India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter mission launched last October ended 14 months prematurely Aug. 29, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a press release. ISRO said scientists abruptly lost radio contact with the nation’s first planetary probe, which was designed to operate for two years in orbit around the Moon.

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Based in Bangalore, Killugudi S. Jayaraman holds a doctorate in nuclear physics from the University of Maryland and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He was formerly science editor of the...