[ Manasij Bhattacharjee ]
KOLKATA, 25 Aug: This rocket scientist hasn’t visited home in Manipur’s Bishnupur district for over two years because of his love for work.
Meet Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist Ningthoujam Raghu Singh, who was one of the bright sparks responsible for sending Chandrayaan-3 to the moon.
“I miss home, but have not been there for almost two years because of the nature of my work,” Singh told PTI, adding that he is yet to make up his mind when to visit home next.
“But I must thank technology such as WhatsApp and Facebook for helping me interact with my parents almost every day,” Singh said.
In one of India’s finest moments, Chandrayaan-3 successfully soft-landed on the south pole of the moon on 23 August, creating history.
“The landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon is just the beginning of the much more ambitious next chapter of the Indian space programme that is set to study the sun, and put Indians in space on an Indian platform under the Gaganyaan programme,” he said.
“We are now focusing on Mission Gaganyaan, which envisages demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching crew of three members to an orbit of 400 km for a three-day mission, and bring them back safely to Earth, by landing in Indian seawaters,” he said.
So far, Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma is the only Indian to have gone to space. In 1984, he went to space as part of an India-Soviet Union joint mission and spent eight days aboard the Salyut 7 space station.
Singh, son of N Chaoba Singh and N Yaimabi Devi from Thanga in Bishnupur district, comes from a humble fishing family of Thanga Khwairakpam Leikai, which is situated in the hillocks surrounded by the Loktak Lake.
He is an alumnus of IISc Bangalore. Singh completed his masters in physics (gold medalist) from IIT-Guwahati and graduated in physics from DM College of Science, Imphal. He joined the ISRO as a scientist in 2006.
“We have put in a lot of effort for Chandrayaan missions over the years. I would like to say the credit not only goes to the ISRO scientists but to every Indian who supported us over the years,” Singh said.
He said that, when Chandrayaan-2 failed, people of the country did not lose hope as they continued to support the ISRO.
Singh said that the journey from Chandrayaan 1-3 was one of the most remarkable achievements in global space research and exploration.
“India has always been the underdog in the global space race; USA, China and Russia have been at the forefront, but the Chandrayaan mission has put India in the league through its implementation of innovation and technology,” he said.
All three Chandrayaan missions have different objectives, with Chandrayaan-1 being an orbiter mission, and Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3 being landing missions.
“India is not in a race to compete with NASA and other space organisations; we have our objectives which we hope to achieve and are not in a hurry to do so,” the scientist said.
Other Manipuris who also serve in different departments of ISRO include James Leichombam and Leichombam Praneshori.
Y Bishal Singha from Silchar was a team member of the thermal control team in the Chandrayaan-3 mission, officials said. (PTI)