Over the moon
Srinivas Laxman captures Chandrayaan’s journey in Moonshot India Chandrayaan 1: The Mission Complete
Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.Igniting young minds The book inspires youngsters to take up the study of space technology
On his 13th birthday, seven years before mankind had set foot on the moon, Srinivas Laxman’s father, the renowned cartoonist R.K. Laxman gifted his son a cartoon that showed Srivinvas cycling on the moon.
Forty sevenyears on, though Srinivas has not managed to cycle on the moon yet, he managed to pen a book on the Indian moon mission.
His book “Moonshot India Chandrayaan 1: the mission complete”provides a glance at the entire process from beginning to the end of the first moon mission, which received great international acclaim for managing to discover water on the surface of the moon.
“I was working on this book for the last six years. The fact that I was also involved in the mission, in a journalistic capacity, also went a long way in the making of this book. My interactions with other scientistsat a professional and personal level havecontributed to the making of this book,” says Srivinvas.
An interaction with a group of students at his daughter’s school promptedhim to write the book .
“I faced many intelligent questions on the moon mission, which was in its infancy. I decided to write a book that will not only help quell many doubts about the Chandrayaan 1 experiment but will also inspire youngsters to take up the study of space technology at a more serious level.”
Though the book was completed a couple of months ago, Srinivas was forced to go to Delhi and decided to delay the book launch.Blessing in disguise
“However, the discovery of water on the moon promoted me to add another chapter . The delay thus turned to be a blessing in disguise.”
Mylswamy Annadurai, project directorofChandrayaanwho was present at the launch said, “Laxman was part and…More
