After being unable to see Chandrayaan-2 launch on July 15, the four students from Municipal Middle School in Mettupalayam, Tiruppur North, were elated to finally see India’s lunar mission soar on Monday afternoon.
The opportunity to witness the launch at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, came through an essay competition held by the school earlier this month, in which K. Santhosh and A. Mohammed Thahir from Class V along with L. Manikandan and S. Harikrishna from Class VI were selected.
“The students were disappointed when the launch was called off the first time,” said S. Saravanan, a teacher at the school, organised the trip and accompanied them to Sriharikota on both occasions.
“I enjoyed the sound and the fire that came out when the launch happened,” said Mohammed Thahir. Mr. Saravanan explained the parts of the GSLV – Mark III vehicle to the students, Thahir told The Hindu from Chennai in a telephonic conversation.
Manikandan, who aspire to become an astronomer, said that watching the launch was a motivation to him. “We will come back next year [to Sriharikota] for the launches of Aditya and Gaganyaan,” he said, referring to the missions to study the Sun and for human space-flight respectively by the Indian Space Research Organisation. “The students visited the rocket garden and space museum in Sriharikota before the launch,” Mr. Saravanan said. On Tuesday, the students also visited Marina Beach and Anna Centenary Library during their stay in Chennai. Once they return to Tiruppur on Wednesday, they would be asked to share their experiences at the school assembly, Mr. Saravanan said.
