Chandrayaan-3 success puts India’s ‘rocket women’ in the spotlight
The HinduPublished : Aug 29, 2023 14:57 IST - 4 MINS READ On August 26, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with several female scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation to highlight the role women played in Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission. Modi also decided to name Chandrayaan-3’s landing spot on the moon “Shiv Shakti”, a name derived from the concept of feminine energy in Hindu mythology, and a tribute to the women scientists who worked on the mission. Over 100 women scientists and engineers are reported to have been involved in the mission, which culminated in India landing its lunar rover on August 23 and becoming the first country to put a spacecraft near the moon’s south pole. Ritu Karidhal, a senior scientist and aerospace engineer, joined ISRO in 1997 and has been part of many important space missions, including Chandrayaan-2 where she was project director, and the Mars orbiter mission “Mangalyaan”.