SRIHARIKOTA: It was a long day of travel and excitement for a mixed batch of police personnel, students, travellers, engineers among others. As many as 7,500 in all, had filled the viewers gallery, waiting with bated breath to watch the liftoff of the Chandraayan-2 mission on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday.
However they did not seem too perturbed by the stalling of the launch which officials said was due to “technical snags”, and instead looked forward to their next visit to Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, which they were promised when the next launch would be rescheduled. The 13-hour travel to the centre did not weigh on the enthusiasm of teacher Safiya and her 42 students from Telangana.Their enthusiasm to see the spacecraft take off did not wane with news of the delay.
‘Our scientists spotted defect in time, saved precious resources’
For Abraham Ashrad, and 41 other schoolers from Telangana Minorities Residential Educational Institutions Society (TMREIS), Hyderabad, the unmanned moon mission and the prospects to learn about its evolution over time was postponed, but the spirit remained unaffected. “But it is alright, else, it would have turned to ashes in the skies,” members of the group said. Like the rest, Ashwini and Tejaswini from other branches of the school looked to the next date being within a month, pinning hopes on ISRO scientists bringing glory to India.
Rakesh and his eight friends from Telangana, began their journey early on Sunday. It was to be an ethereal experience before the group headed to Tirupati to immerse themseleves in the spiritual.“We are not disappointed. Our scientists spotted the defect in time and stopped the launch, saving precious resources and money invested into it. They (ISRO officials) have told us to attend the rescheduled launch,” he said, yet to receive any hint about when that would be, just like the rest of them.
For these four friends, a mix of engineers and architects who cycled almost 100 km to witness the launch from various parts of Tamil Nadu, it was a get-together to cherish. But at 1:55 am on Monday, after a long wait, an announcement to “hold the countdown” gave them hints of the halting of the project. But they waited. The message from the mission director — requesting to “call off the GSLV-Mk-3 M-1 launch scheduled at 2:51:53 hours due to a technical snag,” — confirmed their foreboding.
“It is not possible to make the launch within the window,” added the message over the microphone. The range officer then called off the procedure with “all stations to go ahead with hold and launch cancellation activities. The cryosystems went for draining as people slowly made their way out of the visitors gallery, which was set apart from other viewing sections.