Mylswamy Annadurai just cannot stop smiling. The successful launch of Chandrayaan-1 has put India on par with the global scientific community.
Between a hectic schedule Annadurai, project director of the Chandrayaan project, took some time off to speak about the launch and how he was feeling on this historic day.
Chandrayaan lifts off successfully
The successful launch of the Chandrayaan is like the birth of a baby, say Annadurai. "It has brought us all happiness. We need to nurture it like a child. The first and the most difficult part of the mission is complete with the launch and for the next two years we need to nurture it and watch it grow like a child," he adds.
It is not an unknown fact that Annadurai along with several others spent many sleepless nights to ensure the success of this mission. Hence the obvious question is whether the project director will sleep well tonight? He says no. "I cannot sleep tonight also. We will sit up all night and monitor the progress and I can go to sleep only once the satellite enters orbit."
"Through this mission we intend providing important data to the scientific community in India as to what the moon is all about. We want to look at the moon in a different way and see what it contains. Moreover we do not have a full map of the moon. The chemical and mineral mapping of the moon will help provide a full map of the moon which will not only be beneficial to the Indian but international community as well," he said.
The road to the launch was not easy at all. ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair had said after the launch that they lost nearly 10 hours during the countdown due to bad weather.
Coverage: India's moon mission
Annadurai says that they spent some anxious moments before the launch of the Chandrayaan-1. "The weather was playing truant and we worked round the clock to ensure that everything went on smooth. However I must also add that we had a plan in place and it was definitely not a nail biting finish."