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ISRO launch: Twitter trolls New York Times for two-year-old cartoon mocking Mangalayan Mission

Written By DNA Web Team | Updated: Feb 15, 2017, 12:40 PM IST

Indian doesn't forget, says Twitterati

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched a record 104 satellites, from seven different countries, into orbit today. The agency was using its PSLV-C37 workhorse for the mission, which had a previous best of 20 simultaneous satellite launches. The countdown for the launch of PSLV-C37/Cartosat2 Series satellite mission began at 5:28 AM soon after the Mission Readiness Review committee and Launch Authorisation Board gave its approval for lift off. PSLV first launched the 714 kg CARTOSAT-2 Series satellite for earth observation and then injected 103 co-passenger satellites, together weighing about 664 kg at lift-off into polar Sun Synchronous Orbit, about 520 km from Earth.

But in the midst of the success and several  congratulatory messages, a number of individuals on Twitter recalled a 2014 cartoon by The New York Times that allegedly poked fun at India's Mangalayan Mission to Mars. he cartoon showed a farmer with a cow knocking at the door of a room marked 'Elite Space Club' where two men sit reading a newspaper on India's feat. On September 24, India made history by successfully placing its spacecraft in orbit around Mars, becoming the first country in the world to succeed in such an inter-planetary mission in the maiden attempt itself.

At the time, Andrew Rosenthal, editorial page editor of the New York Times, wrote in a Facebook post that a "large number of readers" had complained about the cartoon. "The intent of the cartoonist, Heng Kim Song, was to highlight how space exploration is no longer the exclusive domain of rich, Western countries," Rosenthal said.

But Twitter isn't quick to forget and a series of tweets trolling the New York Times began after the successful launch

 

Meanwhile, congratulatory messages poured from all over the country