The Chandrayaan-3 mission which has had everyone holding their breaths and feeling jittery for days, was finally successful with the Vikram lander’s triumph descent onto the moon. While the victory brought pride and happiness to everyone across India, the success of the mission hit harder for those contributing to the mission quite literally.
Around 400 companies are known to supply the national space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), with parts required for their missions. Of these, is Kineco Kaman, a company located in Pilerne-Goa. The firm’s employees were elevated with the historic success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission and many were brought to tears by it.
The employees were said to have stayed back beyond their shifts in order to collectively watch as ISRO initiated the Automatic Landing Sequence (ALS) for the moon lander, Vikram.
The Goan company provided four flight-critical components for the LVM-3 Mk4 vehicle utilised for the Chandrayaan-3 mission. These are the equipment bay shroud assembly, ITSC closure plates, composite wire tunnel and bottom plate assembly, and carbon fiber-reinforced polymer FSA casings. While this equipment did not make it to the moon, the employees of Kineco Kaman diligently hoped for the mission to bear fruit.
Moreover, the news of the crash of the Russian lunar lander mission, Luna 25, had the Goan crew working on the composite parts for the Chandrayaan-3 mission concerned. “The entire team was tense after seeing what happened with Russia’s mission. We had been tense for the past four days,” said Avanish Dwivedi, Kineco Kaman’s Vice-President for Customer Relationships and Company Secretary.
However, the mission’s success was an incredible moment and one full of relief for the crew. “I think it is a very emotional moment for the country, having reached this milestone, and for us for contributing to this mission from Goa. It is an exceedingly proud moment,” added Shekhar Sardessai, Founder of the Kineco Group and Chairman and Managing Director of Kineco Kaman Composites.
