For a brother-sister twin from Jammu, the moon had always been about the stories they had heard from their grandmother: a friendly celestial body so far away that they could only imagine to reach there someday. Not anymore, they say.
Swapnil and Swapnila, bothClass 10 students, this week visited the ISRO station in Andhra Pradesh and sawthe massive rocket that will spark their lunar imagination into reality. There,they heard stories about the moon again, but they would have surely missed thewarmth of their grandma’s storytelling.
“The launch was only in our imagination. We used to hearstories of moon from our grandmother. When we actually saw it (the rocket), wewere spell-bound. It was amazing,” Swapnil said. “It’s a dream come true.”
Swapnila said that they saw the GSLV Mk-III rocket that willlaunch the mission into space. “It was so huge,” she added.
The students are among 110 children who are part ofChandrayaan-2 project. In Sriharikota, scientists explained the mission to themand they said they feel happy about it.
Eleven years after the success of its first lunar mission,the Indian Space Research Organisation is set for the launch of Chandrayaan-2project at 2.51 AM on Monday.
The mission on board the Geosynchronous Launch VehicleMk-III will take 54 days to reach the moon’s south pole. Billed as the mostcomplex mission ever undertaken by ISRO, Chandrayaan-2 will make India thefourth country to soft land on the lunar surface after Russia, the US andChina. “We saw the track through which the Chandrayaan-2 vehicle will betransported to the launch pad. We saw the launching control centre and the maincontrol centre,” Swapnila said.
ISRO has launched a programme for schoolchildren, called the’YuvaVigyaniKaryakram’ (YUVIKA), from this year in tune with the government’s’Jai Vigyan, Jai Anusandhan’ vision.
Swapnil and Swapnila wereselected after undergoing a series of test of their academic, sports andextra-curricular record. At the age of 7, both have flown the MicroliteAircraft at Hindon Air Base as co-pilots.
The government is inculcating a “scientific zest among theyouth” with such programmes for students, Swapnila said. “Best scientists andtechnocrats will come up now in the country.”
Shib Narayan Acharya, a photo officer in the Ministry ofDefence, and Sarmistha Acharya are proud parents and said they are happy abouttheir children visiting the ISRO station.
“The full family will see the live telecast of Chandrayaan-2launch,” said their mother.
Their father said the children were invited by former President, the late APJ Abdul Kalam, who spent a few hours with them.