In a historic moment, India on Wednesday, August 23 landed its moon mission Chandrayaan 3 near the south pole region of the Moon. The soft landing on the lunar surface achieved by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) placed India in the league of major space superpowers. The landing on the Moon’s surface is also a testament to India’s technological prowess and will help humans understand its closest celestial neighbour. While Chandrayaan 3’s success was the result of teamwork, Dr S Unnikrishnan Nair is the man who made sure India doesn’t miss out on its date with Moon this time.
Who is Dr S Unnikrishnan Nair?
A pioneer in Indian space exploration, Dr Nair is the director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. He is also the founding director of the Human Space Flight Centre, Bangalore.
Born in the South Indian state of Kerala, Dr Nair also led the team working on the Gaganyaan Project, which aims to send human astronauts to space.Dr Nair specializes in the field of launch vehicle design. He was also involved in the development of various aerospace systems and mechanisms for several launch vehicles including the PSLV, GSLV, and LVM3. According to ISRO, he co-edited a textbook on Finite element analysis. He has also published a few short stories in leading Malayalam magazines. His role was instrumental in Chandrayaan 3’s success.
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After Chandrayaan 3, the VSSC director will now be part of India’s other ambitious mission Gaganyaan. Under the Gaganyaan project, ISRO will send a human crew of 3 members to an orbit of 400 km for a 3-day mission and bring them back safely to earth, by landing in Indian sea waters. The launch vehicle LVM3 rocket – which will carry the human crew to space and bring them back was developed by Nair and his team.
