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My heart skipped a beat or two: Madhavan Nair

Divya Gandhi

Bangalore: “The last 20 minutes were so critically important, I can say my heart skipped a beat or two,” G. Madhavan Nair, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said after Chandrayaan-1 was successfully inserted into the Moon’s orbit on Saturday evening.

No fewer than 500 scientists, led by Mr. Nair, had gathered at the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network in Peenya, near here, where the complex ‘lunar orbit insertion manoeuvre’ was performed at 4.50 p.m.

“Think of the satellite as a parachute free-falling from an aircraft,” Mr. Nair told The Hindu.

“We had to ensure that Chandrayaan’s enormous velocity in deep space was arrested in time and also that it was set in the right track. A host of commands had to be given to ensure that all elements were in good form.”

Full text of ISRO press release

Chandrayaan takes pictures of moon

Chandrayaan 1: In depth

Chandrayaan-1 gets closer to moon

How Chandrayaan-1 is raised to higher orbits

Chandrayaan-1 bound for Moon

Chandrayaan’s orbit raised

“ISRO can put an Indian into space before 2015”

Off to the Moon: Editorial

‘Once Chandrayaan goes near the moon, we will be there to track it’

Going boldly where others have gone before

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