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India's space quest lives on
From Satinder Bindra
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- In April 2001, India joined an elite club of nations offering commercial satellite launches. Celebrations greeted the successful deployment of an experimental communications satellite carried on an Indian-made rocket, fired from a base in the southern state of Andra Pradesh. That launch followed almost three decades of satellite missions -- New Delhi sent its first satellite into orbit in 1975 -- and showed that India's space program was finally hitting its straps. The most recent launch took place in September 2002, and monitoring every move it and other satellites make were scientists at India's Space Research Organization (ISRO). Scientists and officials at the ISRO also kept a keen eye on the soaring career of Indian-born NASA astronaut -- Kalpana Chawla. It is at the ISRO -- the Indian equivalent of NASA, where around 17,000 professionals and scientists work on India's prospering space program -- where her loss will be felt the most. "She was a symbol of courage, womanhood, of discovery, inquisitiveness and above all a high degree professional," says ISRO Chairman Dr. Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan. In 1997, when Kalpana flew her first space mission, NASA and the ISRO cooperated to arrange a live chat between the astronaut and India's then prime minister I.K. Gujral. With a broad range of Indian scientists often feeling they are in direct competition with their American counterparts, Kalpana kick-started a healthy Indian-U.S. co-operation that is now being strengthened and consolidated by others. "She served as a node for that mental bridge between the United States and India, and that was a terrific feeling," Kasturirangan says. Spiritual presenceAs Americans mourn and grieve with Kalpana's family, Kasturirangan believes space explorers will continue to feel her spiritual presence. "I feel that Kalpana being there in space permanently, because she never returned, means her spirit pervades the earth," the head of the ISRO says. "And I feel she will protect the space faring community.'' Kalpana has now become a national icon, a symbol of Indian dreams and accomplishments. She was admired by only other person from India who flew into space, Rakesh Sharma, who was part of a Russian space mission in 1984.
Sharma says he feels robbed -- he was planning to meet Kalpana this April. Now all he has are memories. "I'll think of her as a person who had been up into space twice, but stayed firmly rooted to the ground," Sharma says. The scientific co-operation kick-started by Kalpana is now being strengthened and consolidated by others. Indian American, Sunita Lyn Williams, has just been selected as a back-up NASA astronaut. Yet despite her death in Saturday's shuttle tragedy, it is Kalpana Chawla's work that many at the ISRO believe will continue to be the inspiration for them to explore new frontiers. India is now planning to send a pilotless spacecraft to the moon, and it will soon be launching many more satellites. To continue such major space initiatives, India needs thousands more scientists, but worries about a dearth of space exploration experts are ill conceived. Kalpana's legacy, ISRO scientists say, will ensure India's brightest minds continue to be drawn to the mysterious wonders of space.
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