Chandrayaan 3: Meet Kalpana K, deputy project director of India's moon mission
Kalpana Kalahasti, the deputy project director of Chandrayaan 3, has etched her name in history and further paved the way for women's advancement in science
Chandrayaan 3's historic soft landing on the Moon on Wednesday opened up new avenues for humanity and space exploration. The mission has made India the first nation to have ever reached the lunar south pole, and put our nation among a selected group of countries to land a spacecraft on the Earth's natural satellite.
The monumental feat was achieved nearly four years after the failed soft landing attempt by Chandrayaan 2 in September 2019, which had left the nation dejected. However, Chandrayaan 3's success serves as a testament to the unwavering determination of the Indian Space Research Organisation.
Central to this success is the remarkable team of five individuals who played pivotal roles in this mission. Among these accomplished team members is Kalpana Kalahasti, the deputy project director, who has etched her name in history and further paved the way for women's advancement in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) field.
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Kalpana K served as the deputy project director in Chandrayaan 3 mission. She was second-in-command, paying extra attention to the minute details of the project.
According to her colleagues, she ensured that the mission progressed even during the pandemic. She was previously also involved in the second lunar mission and the Mangalyaan mission.
After the mission's success, she stood before the nation at the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network and said, "…this will remain the most memorable moment for all of us…from the day we started rebuilding our spacecraft after the Chandrayaan 2 experience, it has been breathe in-breathe out Chandrayaan 3 for the team."
Lauding her teammates, she further went on to commend their dedication. "…from reconfigurations to assimilations and all the tests that we conducted meticulously, was possible due to the efforts of Chandrayaan 3 team…"
Other than Kalpana, other members of the team included ISRO chairman S Somanath; project director Veeramuthuvel; M Sankaran, the director of U R Rao Satellite Centre, Bengaluru where the satellite was built; and M Srikanth, the mission director.
