Overview
- The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., added the saree to a new display on Tuesday, citing Harinath’s role on the Mars Orbiter Mission.
- Harinath served as deputy operations director for Mangalyaan and, according to the museum, was integral to mission planning and operations.
- She wore the red-and-blue saree the day ISRO said its spacecraft left Earth’s orbit to begin a roughly 300-day trip to Mars.
- Mangalyaan launched in November 2013 and entered Mars orbit in 2014, making India the first Asian nation and the fourth country to reach the planet.
- Designed for 6 to 10 months, the orbiter worked for nearly eight years, and the museum says the sarees of the mission’s women came to symbolize national identity and India’s success in space.