As soon as Chandrayan 2 soared up into the skies, a loud cheer tore through the roof of a house in Lucknow. The house in Rajajipuram, where Ritu Karidhal Srivastava, the mission director of Chandrayan-2, lived, is suddenly the centre of attraction and has acquired a celebrity status almost overnight.
The phones are continuously engaged and after considerable effort, Ritu’s sister Varsha agreed to speak.
“We are so proud of our sister. After our parents’ demise, she is the eldest in the family and has been a mother figure to me and my brother Rohit,” she said.
Varsha recalls that Ritu was always fond of the stars. “My mother would stay awake all night with Didi (Ritu) when she studied. Didi was always fond of stars and would lie awake staring at the sky. Didi was curious to know what lay beyond the sky. We belong to a middle class family but Didi always yearned to go beyond the limits,” she recalled.
In 1997, Ritu received a letter inviting her to join the Indian Space Research Organisation office in Bengaluru. The decision was tough but her parents allowed her to go and pursue her dreams.
Ritu’s husband, Avinash, and her two children Aditya and Anisha, are her biggest supporters in her starry mission.
“Her family support is so strong that she has been able to devote full time and energy to her dreams,” says Varsha.
Ritu graduated in physics from Lucknow University and then went to the Indian Institute of Sciences for her Masters degree. She obtained a degree in Aerospace Sciences and then joined the ISRO. She was deputy operation director for ‘Mangalyan’ and is now mission director for Chandrayan-2. The girl who stared at the stars, has finally touched the moon.
The successful launch of Chandrayaan-2 was also a proud moment for the parents of Chandrakanata Das – hailing from West Bengal’s Hooghly district – who is one of the key scientists of the mission.
Born in Hooghly’s Shibpur village, Chandrakanta Kumar is now a senior scientist of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and designs antenna systems for Indian satellites and ground stations.
He had served as a project manager, antenna systems, for Chandrayaan-1, GSAT-12 and ASTROSAT. Presently he is the Deputy Project Director, responsible for the radio frequency system of Chandrayaan-2 and heads the electromagnetics section of the U.R. Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru.
Kumar, who studied in R.K. Mission Vidyamandir in Belur, was initially named Suryakanta by his parents but later changed his name to Chandrakanta, said his father Madhusudan Kumar, who is very happy with the strange coincidence.
On July 15, the villagers had gathered at the Kumars’ house and were glued to the TV set as they took pride in the achievements of the son of their soil. However, the launch was called off due to a technical snag.
“Kumar spoke to his mother in the morning (Monday) before going to the office, telling us to watch the launch on TV,” his father said.
His mother, Ashima Kumar, has been eagerly waiting to speak to her son when he calls up home.
At times, she laments that both her sons are away from home. However, the father is very proud of them.
“I tell her not to feel lonely as our biggest achievement is the name and fame they had earned for themselves. Earlier, even the neighbours never gave us any importance. Now we should be proud that the entire country is taking note of him,” he added.
Comment here