Lucknow: Basking in the success of India's second moon mission Chandrayaan-2, the University of Lucknow here is planning to honour its proud alumnus, Ritu Karidhal--the Mission Director--with an honorary degree.
"We are planning to felicitate her with Honoris Causa. The process has already started and it may be done in October, that is on the convocation day of University of Lucknow," Prof S P Singh, Vice-Chancellor, University of Lucknow told PTI on Friday.
As the entire nation celebrated the launch of Chandrayaan-2, Lucknowites were over the moon, revelling in Karidhal's connection with their city. Congratulatory messages poured in for teachers, batchmates and relatives of the ISRO scientist.
"The entire department is proud of the achievements of Ritu Karidhal, who did her MSc in Physics from here in 1996," Poonam Tandon, head of the Physics department at the university, had said.
"She was a very bright student and is certainly a role model for the current batch. The entire department is excited over her success and that of the ISRO. She is indeed a proud alumnus of the department," she said.
Apart from Karidhal, another woman scientist, M Vanitha, is at the helm as project director.
The Uttar Pradesh legislature had also lauded the efforts of the scientists.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had made a special mention of Karidhal and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in the House.
The GSLV-MkIII-M1, a powerful launch vehicle dubbed 'Baahubali', lifted off from the Sriharikota spaceport on Monday afternoon, placing the 3,850-kg Chandrayaan-2 into the earth orbit minutes later.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is aiming for a soft landing on the moon by its rover on September 7, placing the country in an elite group of four nations to achieve the feat.