The Chandrayaan series has had a unique connection with Tamil Nadu and its people ever since the maiden lunar mission started in 2008. The Chandrayaan 1, 2 and 3 missions were helmed by Tamils. Mayilsamy Annadurai helmed Chandrayaan 1 followed by M Vanitha who oversaw Chandrayaan 2. Now, P Veeramuthuvel, a Villupuram native, helms the third mission that was successfully launched towards the moon on Friday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Veeramuthuvel (46) is the project director of Chandrayaan-3 mission. He was a student at Railway School in Villupuram. He completed his diploma in mechanical engineering from a private polytechnic college and later joined a private college in Tambaram.
Veeramuthuvel then became a PhD holder from Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He joined ISRO as a scientist in 1989.
Veeramuthuvel succeeded Vanitha who was the project director of Chandrayaan-2. The then ISRO chief was K Sivan who was also from Tamil Nadu.
K Sivan was from Kanyakumari district. He was the first graduate of the family. He completed his aeronautical engineering from MIT in 1980. Later, he got his postgraduate degree in aerospace engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1982.
He then started working in ISRO. Shivan got his doctoral degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 2006.
Vanitha was the first woman project director in the history of ISRO.
Mayilsamy Annadurai well-known as 'Moon Man of India' helmed the maiden Chandrayaan mission in 2008. Annadurai is from Kodhavady near Pollachi. He completed his BE in 1980 from Government College of Technology in Coimbatore and finished his PG from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore. He got his PhD from Anna University of Technology, Coimbatore.
He joined ISRO in 1982.
Former President APJ Abdul Kalam who led India's rocket programme was also from Tamil Nadu.
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