If you had been following the extensive media coverage of Chandrayaan-1, India's moon mission, you would by now know everything that needs to be known about the mission.
Yet, when Chandrayaan Mission Director George Koshy took the stage, the anticipation was palpable.
With skill of a master storyteller, Koshy began reliving India's greatest space research achievement in front of 400-odd fellow IITians at the golden jubilee celebrations of IIT-Bombay being held in Bengaluru.
At one point in the presentation, on two big screens above him, the earth was revolving, and with it the Chandrayaan.
The moon was yet to show up. There was pin-drop silence in the hall. The 1972-batch M.Tech student paused. "We had to capture the moon at a precise moment. Otherwise the whole thing would have been pointless. We were waiting for that moment," he said.
By then, his captive audience wouldn't have bothered even if he had made the earth stand still to achieve the desired result. Instead, he turned to the enthralled crowd and asked, "May I quicken the earth's rotation, please? I am running out of time." The crowd responded with a nervous laugh. They just wanted the moon to be captured all right. They wanted the Chandrayaan to succeed.
Image: Chandrayaan Mission Director George Koshy. | Photograph: Sanjay Sawant
Also read: India's Moon Mission: Complete Coverage
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