The people behind India’s space programme

In 1963 India launched its first sounding rocket from a fishing village near Thiruvananthapuram; parts were famously carried by bicycle. Sixty years later its Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down near the Moon’s south pole. This is the story of the people who made that journey possible.

The visionary: Vikram Sarabhai

Vikram Sarabhai persuaded the young Indian government that space technology could serve ordinary people through communications, weather forecasting and education. He founded the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 1969 and chose Thumba, near the magnetic equator, for India’s first launch site. When Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3 carried landers, they were named Vikram in his honour.

The builder: Satish Dhawan

After Sarabhai’s sudden death in 1971, aerospace engineer Satish Dhawan took charge. Under him India launched its first satellite, Aryabhata, in 1975, and in 1980 its own SLV-3 rocket placed a satellite in orbit. Dhawan was admired for his integrity: when the first SLV-3 test failed, he faced the press himself; when it succeeded, he sent his project director to take the credit. India’s spaceport at Sriharikota bears his name.

The satellite maker: U. R. Rao

U. R. Rao led the small team that built Aryabhata in sheds in Bangalore. As ISRO chairman from 1984 to 1994, he oversaw the development of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, which became one of the world’s most reliable rockets.

The rocket engineer: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

The project director of the SLV-3 was A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, who later led India’s missile programme and became President of India. His autobiography Wings of Fire remains one of the most-read books among Indian students.

The modern era

K. Kasturirangan chaired ISRO from 1994 to 2003, overseeing the first flight of the GSLV and planning India’s first Moon mission. K. Sivan, the first graduate in his farming family, led ISRO during Chandrayaan-2 in 2019. Ritu Karidhal was deputy operations director of the Mars Orbiter Mission, which reached Mars on its first attempt in 2014, and mission director of Chandrayaan-2. In August 2023, under chairman S. Somanath, Chandrayaan-3 landed near the lunar south pole — a first for any country.

The astronauts

India’s human spaceflight story has its own heroes. Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian in space in 1984, aboard a Soviet mission; asked how India looked from space, he replied “Saare Jahan Se Achcha”. Kalpana Chawla became the first woman of Indian origin in space, flying with NASA before losing her life in the Columbia disaster in 2003. In 2025 Shubhanshu Shukla became the first Indian to visit the International Space Station, as India prepares for its own crewed Gaganyaan missions.

Doing more with less

ISRO’s defining feature has been frugality. The Mars Orbiter Mission cost less than many Hollywood space films, and Indian rockets launch satellites for countries around the world. That culture traces back directly to Sarabhai’s belief that space should serve development, and to the engineers who made it work on a modest budget.