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This Dubai-based lensman has rarest photo exhibition... in a space station

Dubai - The five photographs of flowers sent by Dr Hersh Chadha, an Indian national, will now remain displayed in the ISS, making them the first-ever permanent photography exhibition in space.

Ever thought of a photo exhibition in space? A Dubai-based photographer was honoured in Moscow by cosmonauts who returned from the International Space Station (ISS) for sending a series of photographs. 
The five photographs of flowers sent by Dr Hersh Chadha, an Indian national, will now remain displayed in the ISS, making them the first-ever permanent photography exhibition in space.
"To me a flower symbolises the beauty of life. Well, I can't give you a flower to take to space but I would like to give these pictures of flowers, that I took from around the world, so that when you look at them, even in space, you get that feeling and truly experience 'your world'.
"It's hard to imagine that three or four people sacrifice their entire lives for humanity and civilisation. What do we give back to them? I wanted to give them a piece of home to take with them," he said in his note to the cosmonauts.
Cosmonaut Sergey Rzhikov was in agreement. "It was a part of the support that we had on board," he said.
It all began more than 15 years ago, when Dr Chadha went to study at Harvard Business School and his fellow student spoke to him about her late father, Stuart Allen Roosa, who was the Command Module Pilot for the Apollo 14 mission.
Dr Chadha was inspired by him and wanted to send his pictures to space. He kept trying till Col Valery Korzun, the chief for the first administration of Cosmonaut Training Centre from Star City in Moscow, arranged for five of his pictures of flowers to be taken to space last year.
"I think I achieved what I wanted. Finally five of my pictures are at the ISS. I want to share my happiness with people so that they can keep pursuing their dream, even if it takes 15 years to come true," said Dr Chadha.
Along with the five photographs, Dr Chadha had sent his book, Visions of Nature, published by Assouline Inc., as a gift for the training centre.
Col Valery Korzun said: "It is a very beautiful book with wonderful pictures taken by a real photo artist, and it is you. Your book will be used as a training manual for taking pictures of the earth from the ISS by the cosmonauts."
Dr Chadha gave a hard disk containing 500 photographs to be used for their training manual.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com