Dr Akshata Krishnamurthy came to the United States 13 years ago with a dream to work at NASA.

A lot of children in India harbour a dream of working for the American space agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), some day. A woman from India had the same dream and she fulfilled it by becoming the first Indian citizen to operate a rover on Mars, a mission that involves collecting samples to bring back to Earth.

Indian researcher Dr Akshata Krishnamurthy took to Instagram to share her inspiring journey to NASA. She said she came to the United States 13 years ago with a dream to work at NASA and lead breakthrough science and robotic operations on Earth and Mars.

Many people dissuaded her and told her it was impossible as a foreign national on a visa and she should have a plan B or change her field completely, she wrote. But she didn’t listen to anyone and persevered until she found a way.

She did her PhD at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was hired full-time at NASA. But it didn’t come easily as she had to knock on hundreds of doors to get hired.
“Today, I work on multiple cool space missions including the Perseverance rover collecting samples to bring back to Earth. No dream is ever too big or crazy. Believe in yourself, keep those blinkers on and keep working! I promise, you’ll get there if you work hard,” she wrote further.

Posted three days ago, the video has amassed over 7.62 lakh views and left netizens inspired.
“Women like you are an inspiration to the aspiring female youth leaders!!” a user commented. “That is super amazing! Thanks for making us aware and proud!” wrote another. “The fact that you still represent that Indian flag,” said a third.

source/content: indianexpress.com (headline edited)