According to Kiran Karnik, a former chairman of NASSCOM and a veteran of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), India’s space program has achieved extraordinary success because of the founders’ clear vision and consistent political and policy backing.
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Karnik highlighted how India’s space voyage started modestly in the 1960s and has grown into one of the world’s most prominent space-faring nations while speaking at the launch of Dr. Dinesh C. Sharma’s book Space: The India Story.
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Karnik and Arun Maira, a former member of the Planning Commission, wrote the book, which examines India’s technical innovations and space history. It is separated into two parts: Indians in Space, which tells the stories of astronauts like Rakesh Sharma, Kalpana Chawla, Sunita Williams, and ISRO’s astronaut candidates training for the Gaganyaan mission, and India in Space, which highlights accomplishments in rocketry, satellite development, and lunar missions.
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India’s space program has continuously adopted frugal innovation, using little funding to produce world-class outcomes. During the ceremony, Maira emphasized this concept. The story also remembers how India’s early space exploration ambitions were sparked by Yuri Gagarin’s momentous mission in 1961.
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Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the program’s visionary founder, is largely responsible for it. He placed a higher priority on exploiting space technology for socioeconomic development than for initiatives that were motivated by prestige.
Important landmarks like the Aditya-L1 solar mission, the Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan), Chandrayaan-1, and Chandrayaan-3 were made possible by this developmental method. In addition to advancing scientific understanding, these missions have raised India’s profile in the world of space exploration.
Among India’s accomplishments include the launch of satellites for communication and navigation, as well as the development of remote sensing applications for resource mapping, agriculture, and disaster management. These accomplishments, which include interplanetary missions like Mangalyaan, have been made possible in large part by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
.In the future, ISRO is concentrating on large-scale initiatives like the Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission and creating cutting-edge launch vehicles like the GSLV MK-III. These initiatives demonstrate India’s dedication to advancing space technology and fostering national development.
