Smithsonian Displays Nandini Harinath's 2013 Mars Mission Sari as India’s 1st Mars Orbiter Gains Spotlight
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · Jun 5
Smithsonian Displays Nandini Harinath's 2013 Mars Mission Sari as India’s 1st Mars Orbiter Gains Spotlight
3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Jun 5
Summary
Nandini Harinath’s red-and-blue silk sari, worn on 1 December 2013 during a pivotal Mangalyaan maneuver, is now on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
The museum chose the garment to represent both India’s first Mars mission and Harinath’s role in it after curator Matt Shindell contacted her in 2020 seeking an object tied to the mission.
That day marked the operation that sent the spacecraft out of Earth orbit on its 300-day journey to Mars; Mangalyaan later entered Martian orbit on 24 September 2014, making India the fourth nation or bloc to do so.
The display also reflects the global attention drawn by sari-clad women linked to the mission, helping challenge stereotypes about space science as a male preserve in India.
Placed in the museum’s 'Futures in Space' gallery beside artifacts including Sally Ride’s 1983 shuttle T-shirt, the sari is the Smithsonian’s first India-sourced object in its interplanetary science collection.