Meet Chandrakanta, A Farmer's Son Who Helped India Successfully Launch Chandrayaan II

Chandrayaan- II has successfully launched at its second attempt without any complications, just like the ISRO chief promised. Among the members of the extraordinary team that made this possible is a scientist named Chandrakanta who has a story of his own.

Mudhusudhan Kumar, a farmer in Hoogly¡¯s Shibpur Village wanted to name his son Suryakanta, but the teacher of the kid advised otherwise and he was named Chandrakanta.

Chandrakanta in English translates to ¡®moon child¡¯ and as his destiny would have it, he found himself to be a senior scientist of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). And today he was one of those people who led the Chandrayaan-2 mission.

Talking to News18 about the postponement of the mission, Chandrakanta¡¯s father said, ¡°When the mission was aborted, we were sad. But we are prepared to witness India¡¯s most challenging moon mission lift up. We are extremely proud and happy that our son is part of the team that will make this happen.¡±

News18/File Photo

Chandrakanta is the man behind the design of antenna systems for the Indian satellites and also ground stations. He has been involved in previous space missions like for Chandrayaan-1, ASTROSAT and GSAT-12. For Chandrayaan-2 he was the Deputy Project Director who was responsible for the RF system. He also headed the ¡®Electromagnetics¡¯ Section of UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC).

This is what the overwhelmed mother told News18, ¡°My son called me in the morning and told me to watch Chandrayaan-2 mission on TV. I am very happy today and proud of my son. Despite all odds, he managed to overcome hurdles and became a scientist.¡±

Incidentally - or may be purposefully - Chandrakanta¡¯s younger brother is named Sashikant - after the moon - even he is a scientist.

Here is another inspirational story of a person from a humble background who went on to become a man the world knows about. This should give students from any kind of financial background hope and encouragement.

#GSLVMkIII-M1 successfully injects #Chandrayaan2 spacecraft into Earth Orbit
Here's the view of #Chandrayaan2 separation#ISRO pic.twitter.com/GG3oDIxduG

¡ª ISRO (@isro) July 22, 2019

Chandrayaan-II is expected to make its landing on the far side of the moon on September 7, 2019. One of the more fascinating things about the mission is that Chandrayaan-II is completely indigenous - that means it is made in India in its entirety. It aims to explore the South Pole of the moon, which no moon mission has done before.

One of the fun facts about Chandrayaan-II is that, the entire mission cost three times less than what the making of Avengers: Endgame. Chandrayaan-II¡¯s success is a matter of pride for each of us!