The story behind Tricolour seen flying in space on Independence Day

Around midnight on August 15, as India marked its 76th Independence Day, my Twitter buzzed with notifications. I was tagged in a video that at first was beautiful and in the next moment made me feel proud. It was of the Indian flag fluttering, but not atop a building or a monument or a historical site.
The Tricolour, in this video, was flying high up in free air — at an altitude of 30 kilometres above the planet.

This feat was achieved by a small team of young scientists working out of their headquarters in Chennai. Space Kidz India had successfully managed to not just fly a balloon to an altitude of over 1,00,000 feet but also unfurl the Indian flag and film it in the frigid temperatures that range between -55 degrees Celcius and -3 degrees Celcius.Their founder and CEO Dr. Srimathy Kesan, who was once part of the National Cadet Corps (NCC), wanted to fly the balloon that carried the flag to space from Delhi, but "lack of clearance owing to security reasons" forced her to fly it from Tamil Nadu, she told IndiaToday.in in an exclusive conversationHours after the video was uploaded on the internet, it went viral with appreciation pouring in from all over the country. The video uploaded on YouTube has garnered close to three lakh views in the days that followed.The mission was developed in just 10 days with the 15-foot balloon carrying a parachute and a payload bay with the flag. The balloon remained in operation for four hours touching an altitude of 1,06,000 feet.

However, there is a catch.

While the video was released on August 15, the flag was launched on a balloon and filmed in January this year. But there was a bigger plan in the offingNEWS
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The story behind Tricolour seen flying in space on Independence Day
A small organisation operating out of Chennai managed to launch and unfurl the Indian flag at an altitude of 30 kilometers above the planet. But, there was a bigger plan in the works.
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Sibu Tripathi
New Delhi
August 18, 2022UPDATED: August 18, 2022 11:23 IST

The Tricolour flying at an altitude of 30 kilometers above planet. (Photo: Space Kidz India)

HIGHLIGHTS
This feat was achieved by a small team of young scientists working from Chennai
The mission was developed in just 10 days
The 15-foot balloon carried a parachute and a payload bay with the flag
Around midnight on August 15, as India marked its 76th Independence Day, my Twitter buzzed with notifications. I was tagged in a video that at first was beautiful and in the next moment made me feel proud. It was of the Indian flag fluttering, but not atop a building or a monument or a historical site.

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The Tricolour, in this video, was flying high up in free air — at an altitude of 30 kilometres above the planet.

This feat was achieved by a small team of young scientists working out of their headquarters in Chennai. Space Kidz India had successfully managed to not just fly a balloon to an altitude of over 1,00,000 feet but also unfurl the Indian flag and film it in the frigid temperatures that range between -55 degrees Celcius and -3 degrees Celcius.

Their founder and CEO Dr. Srimathy Kesan, who was once part of the National Cadet Corps (NCC), wanted to fly the balloon that carried the flag to space from Delhi, but "lack of clearance owing to security reasons" forced her to fly it from Tamil Nadu, she told IndiaToday.in in an exclusive conversation.

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Hours after the video was uploaded on the internet, it went viral with appreciation pouring in from all over the country. The video uploaded on YouTube has garnered close to three lakh views in the days that followed.

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The mission was developed in just 10 days with the 15-foot balloon carrying a parachute and a payload bay with the flag. The balloon remained in operation for four hours touching an altitude of 1,06,000 feet.

However, there is a catch.

While the video was released on August 15, the flag was launched on a balloon and filmed in January this year. But there was a bigger plan in the offing.

The team with the payload bay carrying the Indian flag. (Photo: Space Kidz India)

The team at the time was also working on AzadiSAT, a cube sat built by 750 school girls to mark India's 75 years of Independence. The satellite would also be carrying an audio clip containing the National Anthem sung by Rabindra Nath Tagore.

Dr. Kesan says, "The plan was to play the video of the flag flying in space with the National Anthem sung by Rabindra Nath Tagore in the background. We launched the balloon with the flag and filmed it in January, because we were going to be busy with AzadiSAT from February, which was finally launched on August 7 this year."