Chennai, Aug 22 (UNI) The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday
awarded the Dr A P J Abdul Kalam award to Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman Dr K Sivan, under
whose leadership, India's second lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2
mission, was launched on July 22.
The award was announced during the Independence Day.
Since he could not be present at the Independence Day
celebrations at the Fort St. George, he received the
award from Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami at
the State Secretariat today.
The award, carrying a gold medal and a certificate was
presented to him.
A native of Kanniyakumari district, Dr Sivan was popularly
known as the ‘Rocket Man’, the citation said.
Earlier, talking to reporters at the airport, Dr Sivan said the
Lander, one of the payloads of Chandrayaan-2, would make
a soft landing on the moon at 0155 hrs on September seven.
He said the soft landing manoeuvers would commence
at 0140 hrs by reducing the speed and the Lander would
make a soft landing on the lunar's south polar region,
where no country has reached so far, at 0155 hrs after
which the six-wheeled robot Rover (pragyan) would
come out of it and conduct insitu experiments.
Stating that Chandrayaan-2 mission was being watched
with keen interest globally, ISRO was also having
plans for the third moon mission Chandrayaan-3.
On a woman scientist being the project director for
Chandrayaan-2 and more women would be given such
responsibilities, Dr Sivan said 'we do not differentiate
between men and women and all talented people gets
the recognition and opportunity.'
UNI GV 1335