The Women Behind Chandrayaan-3 Mission to the Moon

On August 23rd 2023, I watched a historic moment when India achieved an extraordinary feat: the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 near the South Pole of the Moon.  I was in our Himalayan village in Uttarakhand, recovering from a severe illness. The tranquillity of our mountain home was suddenly transformed into a vibrant celebration as the sound of conch shells echoed through the village in honour of this remarkable achievement. The following day, our neighbours, along with the local temples, mosques and gurdwaras, distributed sweets; such was the collective pride and joy in this accomplishment from an emerging nation.

I couldn’t help but reflect on the contrast between that moment and the one I vividly recall from July 1969, when humanity took its “giant leap for mankind” with the Apollo moon landing. Back then, I was in a classroom in Southampton, sharing the experience with a few students who, like me, were captivated by space exploration. Over five decades later, on August 23rd, it was the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Chandrayaan-3 that marked a “giant leap for India” and the world.

As I watched the countdown on my mobile device, I was struck by the images of thousands of men and women who had dedicated years to making Chandrayaan-3 a reality. What stood out to me was the significant presence of women within the ISRO Chandrayaan-3 team. An impressive contingent of nearly 54 women engineers and scientists played pivotal roles in this mission. In this article, I want to share brief information about some Women Behind the Chandrayaan-3 Mission to the Moon and how their grit and determination touched the stars.

Notably, the second-in-command of the Chandrayaan-3 Mission to the Moon was Deputy Project Director Kalpana Kalahasti. Hailing from Bangalore, she earned an Aeronautical Engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur and has been with ISRO since 2003. Her journey began as a radar engineer at the Satish Dhawan Space Center, and she played a crucial role in coordinating the successful launch of numerous remote-sensing satellites. Addressing the millions of us who watched the Chandrayaan-3 landing, she declared, “We have achieved our goal flawlessly from the day we started rebuilding our spacecraft after the Chandrayaan-2 experience… It has been breath in, breath out, Chandrayaan-3 for our team”.

Another outstanding young woman, Tanisha Bhatia, joined ISRO in 2014 and served as the Project Manager of the Sensor Team for the Lunar Lander Chandrayaan-3. She embarked on her academic journey at DPS Ghaziabad, Meerut and earned a BTech from the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) in Trivandrum. Her expertise spanned board design, signal integrity analysis, analogue design, MATLAB simulation and VHDL. While leading the sensor team, she even developed a digital camera to measure Lunar Lander and the Docking mission velocity.

One of the standout figures in this remarkable group of women is Ritu Karidhal Srivastava, affectionately known as the "Rocket Woman" of India. Srivastava graduated from Lucknow University, earning degrees in both BSc and MSc in Physics and Aerospace. She joined ISRO in 1997, where she played a pivotal role in the development of India's Mars Orbiter Mission, Mangalyaan, which stands as one of the most outstanding achievements of ISRO. This mission made India the fourth country in the world to successfully reach Mars, achieved within a remarkable 18 months and at a significantly lower cost.

Srivastava's primary role was to conceptualise and implement the craft's onboard autonomy system, allowing it to operate its functions independently in space. Additionally, she supervised the Chandrayaan-2 mission as the mission director, which, unfortunately, encountered technical difficulties and failed. Nevertheless, she later served as the mission director for Chandrayaan-3, which proved successful.

In 2021, Srivastava was appointed to the Gender Equality Advisory Council under the G7, during the UK’s presidency. Her incredible journey reached the silver screen with the movie "Mission Mangal", released in 2019 and produced by Akshay Kumar, Cape of Good Films. This must-watch film showcased her remarkable contributions and achievements in space exploration.

The women behind the Chandrayaan-3 mission to the moon have carved a path for women in space research and technology. Their grit and determination touched the stars. They have paved the way for women’s advancement in STEM. They will continue to inspire girls interested in space technology now and in the future.

Please share their stories with your network and celebrate the women who took India to the moon.

About Parminder Vir OBE

Over a 40-year distinguished career, Parminder Vir OBE has passionately devoted her life to amplifying untold narratives and resourcing the skills and imagination of underserved communities. At the core of her mission lies an unshakable faith in the transformative potential of ideas and stories to ignite profound change. Her diverse expertise spans African entrepreneurship, an impressive portfolio as an award-winning film and television producer, and unwavering advocacy for the arts and culture.

Currently, Parminder Vir lends her strategic insights as an Advisory Board Member of Mamamoni Limited and HelpMum, and contributes as a Narrative Advisor at Mustard Venture Agency. She is also a director of Zikora Media and Arts, an inspirational cultural institution for Africa.

In her prior role as CEO of the Tony Elumelu Foundation and Advisory Board Member, she masterminded and executed a comprehensive entrepreneurship programme, impacting over 10,000 African entrepreneurs across 54 African nations from 2014 to 2021. Her tireless commitment to championing entrepreneurship as the keystone for Africa's social and economic advancement continues to be a resounding call to action.