ISRO Teams get IAA Team Achievement Awards

The team from Indian Space Research Organisation which successfully realised the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C7) mission that launched CARTOSAT-2 as well as the team that deployed and recovered Space capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1) have been awarded the prestigious Team Achievement Award of International Academy of Astronautics (IAA). This Award was presented to the Teams on September 28, 2008 at Glasgow, Scotland, UK during the Academy Day organised as a part of the International Astronautical Congress (IAC).

The Team achievement Award was created by Board of Trustees of IAA in the year 2001 to recognise extraordinary performance and achievement by a team of Scientists, Engineers and Managers in the field of Astronautics to foster its peaceful and international use.

It may be recalled that in the tenth flight of PSLV conducted from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota, on January 10, 2007, PSLV-C7 successfully launched four satellites - India's CARTOSAT-2 and Space capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1), Indonesia's LAPAN-TUBSAT and Argentina's PEHUENSAT-1 - into a 635 km high polar orbit. SRE-1 was subsequently recovered successfully on January 22, 2007.

The PSLV-C7 team was led by Mr N Narayana Murthy, Project Director, PSLV-C7 and included Mr George Koshy, Vehicle Director, PSLV-C7, Cartosat-2 by Mr M Krishnaswamy, Programme Director, IRS, SRE-1 by Mr A Subramoniam and Ground support team by Mr S K Shivakumar, Director, ISTRAC. The overall co-ordination of the mission was by Mr P S Sastry, Director, LVPO at ISRO Headquarters, Bangalore.

The teams which were honoured in the past with this Award include Space Shuttle Team, Hubble Space Telescope Team, the Solar Satellite Mission SOHO Team and Mir Space Station Team. ISRO's SRE-1 and PSLV Team were chosen by the Board of Trustees of IAA in March 2008 on the recommendations of IAA's Awards Selection Committee.