“It was a do-or-die moment, the most critical operation in the mission,” she said in a 2016 interview. “We had to decide where the spacecraft goes, how it goes and when it goes. The success of the mission depended on what we did that day.”
Mangalyaan was successfully placed in Martian orbit on September 24, 2014. India became the first country in Asia, the fourth in the world, and the first to succeed on its very first attempt. The mission was intended to last six to ten months but Mangalyaan continued operating for almost eight years.
The photograph that changed everything
The moment India reached Mars, a photograph went around the world. Women scientists in bright saris were captured celebrating inside the ISRO control room, challenging the global stereotype that rocket science was a male preserve. The image was striking precisely because it was so unexpected to so many people outside India, where it simply reflected an everyday reality.
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