Space buffs gather to celebrate Aditya-L1's launch

To commemorate the launch, the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium held a panel discussion with solar physicists, including Prof Jagdev Singh, the founder and principal investigator of the VELC payload at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics.

Saturday morning saw a small crowd gather at the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium to rejoice and celebrate the launch of India’s first solar mission Aditya-L1.

To commemorate the launch, the planetarium held a panel discussion with solar physicists, including Prof Jagdev Singh, the founder and principal investigator of the VELC payload at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. Following the panel discussion, it conducted a live screening of the launch in the basement of the building. 

Space enthusiasts had their eyes glued to the two screens with their phones held up high, recording each moment of the mission in the run-up to its launch into space. At 11.50, the crowd that watched on with almost solemn reverence erupted in cheers when the spacecraft took off.

Closely following the on-screen telecast, Dr B R Guruprasad, former Associate Director at ISRO, explained the components and the objectives of the mission to the crowd that celebrated each successive update.

Dr Vinay, an assistant professor at the University of Agricultural Sciences, was able to catch the screening with his family by chance. 

“We had come to the planetarium but were fortunate to have witnessed this. We are very proud because this has launched successfully so soon after Chandrayaan-3 was launched,” he said.

Many people who gathered on Saturday were also a part of the crowd that witnessed the Chandrayaan-3’s launch on August 23.

“It is an amazing precise technology that has allowed these missions to happen. They will inspire the younger generation to develop a love for science and technology and inspire others,” said Chidu Kumar, an engineer who attended the livestreaming.

Sixth-grade student Samik, who has attended classes at the planetarium, joyously proclaimed that he would work his way to ISRO to participate in missions of this scale in the future.