Ask for the Moon

The distance between earth and moon is said to be 384,400 Kms and we are just 2.1 Kms away from the Moon. The Chandrayaan - 2 is indeed a success though the whereabouts of the Vikram lander is unknown at this point in time.  A commendable job by the scientists and engineers of ISRO!

We the children of Kerala, in those days never knew that ISRO was headquartered at Bangalore. The model of a huge rocket seen while passing by train installed in Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) near the state capital Thiruvanathapuram (Trivandum in those good old days) was a source of inspiration. For us VSSC was synonymous with Rocket, Satellite and everything related to space. Our inspiration to become future engineers was to join this esteemed organisation.

At a time when the state of Kerala was bereft of many industries, VSSC meant a huge solace for the highly literate and educated people of the state. I have many friends working in ISRO and you can still see many scientists and engineers from southern states in coveted position there.

Those were the early days of maturing space technology and all their ventures were not as successful as today. There were failures galore that often invited ridicule.  We children had our own names for the Satellite Launch Vehicles (SLV) 

SLV – Sea Landing Vehicle

ASLV (Advanced SLV) – ‘Athe’  Sea Landing Vehicle (‘Athe’  in Malayalam means  ‘the same’)

PSLV (Polar SLV) – ‘Pinneyum’  Sea Landing Vehicle (‘Pinneyum’  in Malayalam means ‘Again’)

ISRO has travelled a long way from there, learned from each failure and consolidated its position in the league and today is a force to reckon with.  We have not only launched satellites but also explored the Mars and the Moon.

Failures are not new to this technology where one has to depend only on the communication systems. Every country that attempted has failed multiple times. No doubt we get stronger with each failure.

An emotional lecture during by engineering days my Dr P Radhakrishnan*, a scientist in VSSC is still vivid in my memory. Dr Radhakrishnan was trained in Johnson Space Centre, USA and slated to travel to space in September 1986 Challenger mission which was abandoned after the Challenger disaster of January 1986.

The world has changed, India has changed. Once upon a time, people used to ask Will launching an rocket alleviate poverty? But today space technology has helped build a better India with its contribution in the fields of communication, disaster management, medicine, education and many other.

We get up at midnight and sit glued to our TV sets, computers and mobiles to watch  Vikram land on the moon. The Prime minister spends sleepless night with the scientists, owns the slightest of the failures stands by them, consoles, boosts their morale, motivates and  leads them to courageously go ahead with their mission with an assurance that the country stands by them.

A country that started by carrying a satellite on a bicycle to the launchpad has touched the moon today! 

Ask for the moon! We will get you the moon in a platter soon. 

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._Radhakrishnan_(scientist)