Sriharikota: All of Isro’s rocket builders swung into action to detect the snag that had halted the prestigious second mission to the moon early on July 15.
Recalling those tense hours, an official said, “The work done in the next 24 hours in this centre was mind-boggling. They identified the cause of the technical snag and corrected it within 24 hours.”
In the next day and a half, they had ensured that the corrections made were proper and in the right direction. They handed the rocket back to the Isro management for launching.
“The expert team was on the job for the past seven days to check the systems and they did a commendable job,” Isro chairman Dr K. Sivan said after the successful launch of Chandrayaan-2 on Monday.
Referring to the turnaround, Dr Sivan said it was a mammoth task and it was possible only because of the “very very hard work” by team Isro — the engineers, technical assistants, technicians and supporting staff of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and the Isro Propulsion Complex at Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu. He said the scientists forgot about their families and sacrificed their interests to ensure that the snag was fixed quickly.
