Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 18 (IANS) Nearly 5,000 employees of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Kerala will next week celebrate the success of the Chandrayaan-1 mission with a special lunch and are also hopeful of being given a salary hike in appreciation of their work, an official said.Workers at four ISRO units in the state will be treated to a traditional Kerala feast and also given a packet of sweets each on Nov 24. Incidentally, it was from ISRO’s Thumba unit near here that the US-made Nike-Apache Sounding Rocket was launched in 1963, marking the beginning of India’s space odyssey.

The ISRO employees are also expecting to be granted a special bonus due to the success of the moon mission.

“The Joint Consultative Machinery, a forum of all recognised ISRO employee unions that also consists of the top brass of the department of space, is meeting in Bangalore to discuss a special bonus for the successful launch,” an official said Monday.

“Recently just 30 percent of the ISRO employees in the scientist category got a grade increase. With the success of Chandrayaan, the general feeling is that the government will agree to an overall hike in salary,” he added.

The employees want a 20 to 25 percent hike.

“Compared to the software industry, the only advantage for ISRO engineers is that our jobs are secure,” said the official.