Chandrayaan-3: Meet The Team Behind India's Moon Mission

Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 on Wednesday completed the last endeavour and made a soft landing on the surface of the Moon. The touchdown took place at 6:04 pm on August 23, 2023, as scheduled.

"Chandrayaan-3 has successfully soft-landed on the moon! Congratulations, India!," said the Indian Space Research Organiation (ISRO) in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
'India??,
I reached my destination
and you too!'
: Chandrayaan-3

Chandrayaan-3 has successfully
soft-landed on the moon ?!.

Congratulations, India??!#Chandrayaan_3#Ch3

¡ª ISRO (@isro) August 23, 2023

Hundreds of ISRO scientists have worked behind the scenes to make the moon landing possible, making India the first country to land a spacecraft on the lunar south pole. Here are the six key scientists behind ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 mission:

S Somanath, ISRO Chairman

The brain behind India's ambitious Moon mission is ISRO chief S Somanath. Somanath has also been credited for accelerating ISRO's other missions, including Gaganyaan and Sun-mission Aditya-L1, as per a TOI report. Somanath has also served as the director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre ¡ª the primary centres for developing rocket technologies for ISRO, before heading India's space organisation.

While announcing the news of the landing, Somanath said, "India is on the moon. The PM congratulated all of us and said that he would like to personally come down and congratulate each one of us. ISRO's next mission is Aditya L-1 mission which is getting ready at Sriharikota."

#WATCH | "India is on the Moon": ISRO chief S Somanath as Chandrayaan 3 lander module Vikram makes safe and soft landing on the Moon pic.twitter.com/5xEKg0Lrlu

¡ª ANI (@ANI) August 23, 2023

P Veeramuthuvel, Chandrayaan-3 Project Director

P Veeramuthuvel took charge as the Project Director of Chandrayaan-3 in 2019. Aged about 46 years, he hails from a small family in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district. PhD holder Veeramuthuvel is an alumnus of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

He succeeds Vanitha, who was the project director of the Chandrayaan-2 mission under the leadership of former ISRO Chief K Sivan. Before this, he had held the position of Deputy Director at the Space Infrastructure Programme Office at ISRO's main office.

S Unnikrishnan Nair, Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC)

S Unnikrishnan Nair is the Director of VSSC located in Thumba, Kerala. VSSC was responsible for developing the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark-III, now known as Launch Vehicle Mark-III. As the head of VSSC, S Unnikrishnan Nair and his team oversaw various critical aspects of this vital mission.

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Mohana Kumar, Mission director

S Mohana Kumar, a senior scientist from the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, is the mission director for Chandrayaan-3. Kumar has worked as the director for the successful commercial launch of the One Web India 2 satellites on board the LVM3-M3 mission. "The LVM3-M4 has once again proved to be the most reliable heavy lift vehicle for Isro. Congratulations to the teamwork of the Isro family," TOI quoted Kumar as saying.

M Sankaran, Director of U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC)

In 2021, M Sankaran assumed the role of Director at the U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC). Sankaran leads the team responsible for crafting satellites that meet India's diverse needs, including communication, navigation, remote sensing, weather forecasting, and planetary exploration. URSC is tasked with designing and constructing all of India's satellites for ISRO.

SS/LiveStream

A Rajarajan, Launch Authorisation Board (LAB) chief

A scientist and director of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota, A Rajarajan, is an expert in the area of composites. He was looking after the fruition of solid motor production and launch complex infrastructure to meet ISRO's increased demand for launches, including the Human Space Programme (Gaganyaan) and SSLV. The Launch Authorisation Board (LAB) gives the go-ahead for the launch.

According to TOI, nearly 54 female engineers/scientists participated in the Chandrayaan-3 mission. According to an ISRO official, they are "associate and deputy project directors and project managers of various systems."

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