A Potpourri of Vestiges Review
Murtaza Ali Khan
Produced
by Miditech Studios, the new discovery+ documentary titled 'Gaganyaan – Bharat
ki Antariksh Udaan’ offers a riveting roadmap to the audacious and
challenging journey of India’s human space flight programme, from developing
the country’s own state of the art cryogenic engine, testing of flights,
rigorous astronaut trainings to the final preparations and anticipation before
its launch in 2023.
The 45 minute long
documentary is supported with archival footage, modern graphical
representations of the complex processes and tremendous dangers of human space
flight. This fascinating original also recaps the ground-breaking engineering
that enabled India to successfully test an unmanned flight with the crew module
from launch to re-entry in 2014.
'Gaganyaan
– Bharat ki Antariksh Udaan’ features three eminent astronauts viz. Rakesh
Sharma, the first Indian to go into space, Sunita Willaims, the elite
record-holding woman astronaut of NASA, and the Russian Cosmonaut, Oleg Kotov.
Along with them, various experts namely, Dr. G Madhavan Nair (Former Chairman,
ISRO), Air Cdre (Rtd) Ravish Malhotra (Former test pilot, IAF), Asif Siddiqi
(Space Historian), Dr. Brigitte Godard (Flight Surgeon, European astronaut
centre), and other distinguished professionals also lend their expertise on the
subject.
This is just the kind of
content one expects from discovery+,
country’s first and leading aggregated infotainment streaming platform, which
is famously known for engrossing cosmology content among other fun and
facts-based content from more than 55 sub-genres. In doing so, discovery+
becomes the first OTT platform to bring to the Indian public this historical
journey which will put India on the world stage with other spacefaring nations:
Russia, China, and the United States. ‘Gaganyaan’ joins a formidable lineup of successful and immensely popular cosmological
titles like – ‘India's Space Odyssey,’ ‘How The Universe Works,’ ‘Through the
Wormhole with Morgan Freeman,’ ‘Space Titans: Musk, Bezos, Branson’ and many
more.
Gaganyaan was first
announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, 2018. But no one at the
time saw the pandemic coming less than two years later, with scientists and
aerospace engineers realizing that going ahead with a manned mission, a complex
endeavour with a life at stake even at the best of times, was not something to
be rushed. But despite the uncertainty created by the pandemic, the ISRO is
marching toward its ambitious India’s maiden human spacelift mission in 2023.
It has completed one more crucial test, which will boost the confidence of the
scientific community to push the project further.
On May 9, ISRO completed a
test called a static test of a human-rated solid rocket booster, simply known
as HS200, for the ‘Gaganyaan Mission’. The test was conducted at the Satish
Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. In simple terms, the test was conducted to see the weak
spots, if any, in the rocket to be launched. In this process, human
intelligence and scientific knowledge are simultaneously applied to check or
anticipate weak spots in a spacecraft. Preventing possible accidents is billed
as ‘Human Rating’. The process involves several tests with many variables to
ensure the safety of a manned spacecraft to reach the goal and return safely to
earth. In a way, it’s analysing and understanding the reliability of human-rated
rockets against non-human-rated rockets. During the test, ISRO checked 700
parameters and found them all normal.
Interestingly, PM Modi discussed
the ‘Gaganyaan Mission’ in his first Mann Ki Baat of the new year and the new
decade. “Gaganyaan mission will be a historic achievement in the field of
science and technology for India in the 21st century. It will prove to be a
milestone for New India,” he had asserted while praising the four pilots of the
Indian Airforce who have been selected as astronauts for the mission and their
forthcoming training in Russia. “These promising youngsters symbolise India's
skill, talent, ability, courage and dreams. Our four friends are about to go to
Russia in a few days for their training. I am confident that this would script
another golden chapter in India-Russia friendship and cooperation,” he added
further.
Watching the documentary one
can appreciate the meticulousness that has gone into making it. discovery+ must
be commended for making an important documentary film about India’s human space
flight programme. Here is an offering that needs to be watched by each and
every Indian.
A version of this review was first published in The Daily Guardian.
Readers, please feel free to share your opinion by leaving your comments. As always your valuable thoughts are highly appreciated
People who liked this also liked...
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for sharing for valuable opinion. We would be delighted to have you back.