Chandrayaan 3 Mission: Know the Qualifications of Scientists behind the Mission

ISRO Chandrayaan 3 landed on the moon's South Pole on 23 August 2023 making the entire nation proud. The lander touched down in the lunar south pole region, making India the fourth country to successfully land on the Moon, and the first to do so near the lunar south pole. Let us now take a look at the crew behind this successful endeavour and also their educational credentials.

Dr. V Narayanan

The Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) is Dr V Narayanan. He joined ISRO in 1984 as a rocket propulsion specialist. Dr. V Narayanan graduated from IIT Kharagpur with a first-place MTech in Cryogenic Engineering in 1989. He holds a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, a silver medal from IIT Kharagpur for first place in MTech, and a gold medal from the Astronautical Society of India. He has also received an Honorary Doctor of Science (Honoris Cause) degree from Sathyabama University in Chennai.

S Somanath 

S Somanath, Secretary, Department of Space, and Chairperson, Space Commission, received his BTech in Mechanical Engineering from TKM College of Engineering in Kollam and his Masters in Aerospace Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. With a gold medal, he specialised in Structures, Dynamics, and Control. He played a critical role in the success of ISRO Chandrayaan 3.

P Veeramuthuvel

Chandrayaan 3's Project Director is P Veeramuthuvel. P Veeramuthuvel attended Villupuram Railway School and earned a Mechanical Engineering diploma from a private polytechnic institution afterward. P Veeramuthuvel received his undergraduate degree from a private college in Chennai and his postgraduate degree from another engineering institution. He received his PhD from IIT Madras.

Kalpana Kalahasti 

Kalpana Kalahasti, the ISRO Chandrayaan 3 mission's deputy project director, was born in Bengaluru, Karnataka, and graduated from IIT Kharagpur with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering. She studied Electronics and Communication at Madras University.

M Sankaran

M Sankaran, the Director of UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), earned a Master's in Physics in 1986 from Bharathidasan University in Tiruchirappalli. Following that, he joined the ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), which is now known as URSC.

Dr. S Unnikrishnan Nair 

Dr. S Unnikrishnan Nair is the Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) in Thiruvananthapuram. Dr. S Unnikrishnan Nair received his BTech in Mechanical Engineering from Kerala University, his ME in Aerospace Engineering from IISc Bangalore and his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Madras. NALSAR also awarded him an MA in Telecommunications and Space Law.