ISRO chairman Dr K Sivan said that India is moving ahead to accomplish its target of sending a man to space by December 2021.
He even asserted that though ISRO’s plan to soft-land Chandrayaan-2’s ‘Vikram’ module on the far side of the Moon (lunar surface) did not go as per the plan, it will have no relevance to the Mission ‘Gaganyaan’
Stating Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter will give approximate data for seven and half years, all technologies of the biggest moon mission have proved accurate barring the soft landing. “Is not it a success ?” he asked.
“By December 2020, we will have our first unmanned mission of human spaceplane. The second unmanned human space plane, we target for July 2021,” Dr K Sivan said while addressing the eighth convocation of IIT, Bhubaneswar.
“By December 2021, the first Indian will be carried by our own rocket … This is the target Isro is working for,” he said amidst loud cheers by the audience.
The Gaganyaan mission is extremely significant for India as it will boost the science and technology capability of India. “Therefore, we are working on a new target,” he said.
Sivan had also some interesting words in store for the students. “If you are not taking a chance, there is no chance of achieving anything significant in life. Take calculated risks. When you take calculated risks, you save yourself from problematic areas”.
Talking about the innovation, he said: “I need not tell you how many times Edison failed in inventing the light bulb or how many times Isro failed in the launch of our launch vehicles. But this failure did not become an obstacle. We (Isro) use these failures as learning opportunities,” the Isro chief said.
Sivan told the gathering, “Dr Kalam said your dream or idea must not make you sleep. Get inspired by great leaders, but do not try to emulate them. You have to come out with original solutions and not a copy of somebody else’s idea. If you want to become a Dr Kalam, do not chase his hairstyle. You follow his idea and the message he gave”.