Four students from a Corporation school here are set to visit the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota to witness the launch of Chandrayaan-2 in the early hours of July 15.
The students – K. Santhosh, A. Mohammed Thahir, L. Manikandan and S. Harikrishna – from the Municipal Middle School at Mettupalayam in Tiruppur North won the opportunity after participating in an essay competition held by the school.
The competition was the idea of their teacher S. Saravanan, who booked the passes for the students at the launch viewing gallery. “I went to Sriharikota during the launch of PSLV-C46 in May,” he said. Subsequently, he wanted to take the students to the space centre. Of the 20 students who were asked to write an essay about Chandrayaan-2, in any language of their choice, Santhosh and Mohammed Thahir from Class V and Manikandan and Harikrishna from Class VI were selected.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) inaugurated the launch viewing gallery at the space centre on March 31 for the public. The passes for the gallery could be obtained free of cost by registering online at the website of Satish Dhawan Space Centre. “The bookings were opened on July 4 and were closed by the next day,” Mr. Saravanan said.
Though the launch is scheduled for 2.51 a.m. on July 15, Mr. Saravanan said the students were looking forward to witnessing it in person.
