It's a historic moment: ISRO Chief

Chennai, Jan 22 (UNI) ''It is an historic moment for ISRO ...a thrilling moment,'' ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said after receiving the recovered Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1) spacecraft at Ennore Port, near here.

Talking to newspersons here, Dr Nair said the ISRO scientists had some tense moments when the capsule entered the atmosphere, but it was precise.

''We had some tense moments because fixing the trajectory before the capsule entered the earth's atmosphere is a herculean task. But it was precise.'' He said there was some deviation and the spacecraft splashed down about 20 km from the designated area in the Bay of Bengal. The module traveled half the world's distance before landing 80 km off the Ennore Coast, he added.

Mr Gurupdesh Singh, Captain of ''Sarang'', which retrieved the capsule from the Bay of Bengal said before the divers laid their hands, a Coast Guard helicopter did a test.

After the test, the divers took underwater photographs. As everything was safe, they recovered and towed the spacecraft to the vessel.

A crane onboard the vessel, lifted and brought the capsule to the shore, he said.

Mr S Velumani, Chairman, Ennore Port and Mr B K Patasahani, DIG Coast Guard (East) said it was a pleasure and privilege to have worked with ISRO.

Inspector General Rajendra Singh, Commander, Coast Guard Region (East) coordinated the recovery operation.

UNI