This, asserts Minnie Vaid, is hardly a new phenomenon-- entitled minors getting behind the wheel of super expensive cars mowing down innocent victims in a drunken stupor and getting away with it scot-free!

Even as the scientists and staff at Mission Operations Complex broke into applause, the core team members thanked all those who had worked on the mission. Quietly and without jingoistic boasting of their stupendous achievement. And that is the most remarkable aspect of ISRO -- they let their work do the talking, notes Minnie Vaid, author of Those Magnificent Women And Their Flying Machines, ISRO's Mission to Mars.

As a disembodied female voice gives a stark recitation of her husband's heroic act of bravery, Archana's face does not register any emotion, it is almost blank in its stoicism. A fascinating excerpt from Minnie Vaid's new, must-read, book, Fateh.

'The unflappable temperament and nerves of steel under extreme pressure -- essential ingredients in space research -- were on full display in the rows occupied by the scientists still engrossed in their monitor screens,' says Minnie Vaid, author of Those Magnificent Women And Their Flying Machines, ISRO's Mission to Mars.

'ISRO provides a very positive atmosphere. What matters here is your talent, not your gender,' says Ritu Karidhal, Deputy Operations Director, India's Mars orbital mission, Mangalyaan. A fascinating excerpt from Minnie Vaid's Those Magnificent Women And Their Flying Machines, Isro's Mission To Mars.