KALABURAGI: A Raichur-based student has become one of the lucky few to witness the historic moon landing of Chandrayaan-2’s lander Vikram in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. Vaishnavi G is a Class 9 student of Daffodils Concept School in Sindhanur.
DSRQ-ISRO Bengaluru director Suresh M R wrote to Vaishnavi a couple of days ago informing her about her selection to watch the landing from the ISRO Tracking Centre (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru. She has been asked to reach Bengaluru by 2 pm on Friday along with a parent or guardian.
Speaking to The New Indian Express over phone, Vaishnavi said witnessing the landing will be a golden moment of her life. She said ISRO conducted an online quiz competition between August 10 and 21 for all high school students of the country. She attempted the quiz on August 12 and solved all the 20 questions in under five minutes.
Vaishnavi added that she received the letter from ISRO on September 1. She will leave Sindhanur on Thursday along with her father Nagaraj, an advocate. To a question she said she aims to study space technology. School secretary Lakshminarayana said of the around 150 students who appeared for the quiz from the school, 20 answered all the questions. ISRO selected the students who answered all questions in the shortest time.
Office of Media and Public Relations (ISRO) director Vivek Singh said, “One boy and girl from each state and union territory have been selected through the competition. The initiative of ISRO was to invite high school students by selecting them through space quiz competition to attract them towards space technology.”