While India celebrates the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon, the people who have come to the forefront are the scientists of ISRO who toiled day and night to make this moon mission possible.
Today we will talk about Dr Ritu Karidhal Srivastava, the senior scientist at ISRO who headed the Chandrayaan-3 mission.
According to CNBC, Dr Ritu Karidhal Srivastava is also known as the ‘rocket woman of India’. She completed her graduation in Physics from Lucknow University and then went on to pursue Aerospace Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Her journey in academia didn’t end here. She further pursued her PhD but life had other plans.
Dr Ritu left her PhD and ventured into space exploration. She was guided by her professor Dr Manisha Gupta who urged her to join ISRO in 1997 and she started working at UR Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru.
Ritu Karidhal Srivastava is an Indian scientist working with the Indian Space Research Organisation, popularly known as the Rocket Woman of India. Isn't she inspiring? Do you know someone like her? Tell us, using #SheInspiresUs . pic.twitter.com/FVOfxbNrBv
— MyGovIndia (@mygovindia) March 5, 2020
Because of Dr Ritu’s exceptional educational background, she was given very complex projects to deal with despite there being other senior scientists eligible to take on the projects. Her brilliance was recognised and this fueled her passion for this field.
Dr Ritu’s leadership journey at ISRO began when she was appointed as the Deputy Mission Director of the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) – Mangalyaan-1, which was successfully launched on November 5, 2013. Next, she was the Mission Director of Chandrayaan-2 and her latest achievement – leading Chandrayaan-3.
According to TOI, Dr Ritu had a collection of paper cuttings of ISRO and NASA while growing up. She was always interested in space and dreamt of doing something unique.
She has been conferred with several prestigious awards including the ‘ISRO Young Scientist Award’, ‘ISRO Team Award For MOM’, ‘ASI Team Award’, and ‘Women Achievers in Aerospace’.
Dr Ritu Karidhal Srivastava is not just an inspiration for scientists but for several women across the country who dream big and want to make a name for themselves in the field of science.