Breakthrough's short film, Snapshots from Afar directed by Emily Driscoll is based on three women scientists behind the Mars mission. The movie not only captures the leap that India took to space, but also documents the leap the country took in terms of gender.
‘Snapshots from Afar’ features three scientists - Seetha Somasundaram, the Program Director of the ISRO Space Science Program Office, Nandini Harinath, Project Manager, Mission Design, and Deputy Operations Director, Mars Orbiter Mission, and Minal Rohit, Scientist and Engineer, Project Manager, Methane Sensor for Mars.
The short film depicts the contributions of the three women, where they describe the moments of tension and suspense that they underwent when the Mangalyan was launched.
Minal Rohit calls Seetha Somasundaram a "very strict lady", while she speaks how she was inspired as a child by scientists to become one herself.
In an interview last year, she said: "We think of our satellites and payloads as our babies, too. To us, they have lives. So the rules for office and home are common: Patience, Procedures, Priorities. If you’re patient, that’s half the battle won. Don’t allow for single-point failure; have backup plans in your mind all the time to avoid chaos. And you can’t be everywhere at once; so assign your priorities. The mind and heart have to be in sync. You must always be true to yourself.”
Although, the film mostly shows about the work that the women do than the struggle they face as a women scientist, Seetha Somasundaram does mention that earlier, there were barely any women in the organisation and that now women scientists have become common at ISRO.
