July 18: Tenzing Norgay has reached a new summit. Nasa has "informally" named a region of icy mountains on Pluto after the Indian who, along with New Zealander Edmund Hillary, conquered Everest 62 summers ago.
Nasa said that some of the peaks of Norgay Montes (Mountains) rise 3,500m. The US space agency has released a photograph and a simulated animation flyover of the region using images from New Horizons, a spacecraft that flew past Pluto earlier this week after a nine-year journey.
The mountains probably formed no more than 100 million years ago, Nasa said, calling them "mere youngsters in a 4.56 billion-year-old solar system". The region, which covers about one per cent of Pluto's surface, suggests that Pluto is still geologically active.
Tenzing's family confessed to being "thrilled and honoured" at their ancestor being associated with one of the most keenly followed space missions of recent years.
"Nasa could have named the mountains after any American legend - its decision to use Tenzing Norgay's name was unexpected," Tenzing's son Jamling said.
He appeared sore about the Indian government's failure to award Tenzing the Bharat Ratna or name Bagdogra airport after him, both longstanding demands from Darjeeling's Sherpa community.
"If Tenzing Norgay's name is being used to refer to something outside our planet, do we need to ask our government to rename Bagdogra airport after him?" asked P.T. Sherpa, general secretary of the Sherpa Buddhist Association.
In New Zealand, Hillary's picture appeared on the updated $5 note in 1992, making him the only person in the country so honoured in his lifetime. Both Hillary and Tenzing feature on a stamp in New Zealand.
"I think my father has only appeared in a postal cover (envelope) in India," Jamling said.
Jamling and Hillary's son Peter were invited to march with the New Zealand contingent at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010.
Tenzing and Hillary scaled Everest on May 29, 1953. The news reached Britain on the morning of June 2, the day of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.
Tenzing received a host of medals from Britain, Iran, Nepal, the Soviet Union, France and Italy. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1959 and a posthumous Padma Vibhushan in 2008, some 22 years after his death at the age of 71.
