Aiming For The Stars

The sky was never the limit for India. The country got the Department of Space to strengthen ISRO and showcase its science and technology power to the world. The level of Standards and the number of achievements in the field have only gone up since then.

Even the sky is not the limit; Source: ISRO

A very long time ago, when someone would lie on their rooftop under a clear night and gaze at those twinkling lights, they would probably never believe that they could reach those stars. When George Bailey in  “It’s A Wonderful Life” said, “What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You want the moon? Just say the word and I’ll throw a lasso around it”, he did not know that 15 years later Yuri Gagarin would become the first man to go to space and that the moon can be conquered as Neil Armstrong landed on it in 1969. The fascination with the cosmos continues and it is no wonder that a child’s first lesson starts with “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”.

India, a country that has some of the best brains in the world, has also become one of the most advanced space hubs in the whole wide world. It has been making leaps and bounds in space, quite literally.

What began with the foundation of the Indian National Committee For Space Research( INCOSPAR) in 1962 has now successfully launched various satellites, orbiters, and space missions to the moon, the mars, and the universe.

Finally, Indians can proudly say “to the moon and back” to their beloved without sounding like a fool.

These feats that are quite out of the world have been made possible with the hard work of all those geniuses who work day and night to make the space dream come true. The Indian Space Research Organisation, better known as ISRO or India’s very own NASA has been directly responsible for making a billion dreams come true. While it is only during the Mangalyaan or Chandrayaan that we excitedly start our discussions around it, much of its history still remain obscure from the public eye.

Before there was ISRO, we had the INCOSPAR. With Vikram Sarabhai and many other scientists leading the bandwagon, it later grew into ISRO in 1969. It was only going to become grander with the establishment of the Department of Space by the Indian government three years later.

The very same year, on 1st June 1972, the Department of Space took ISRO under its governance. Providing a more stable future for India’s space exploration program, this day became a milestone in the country’s history.

Bringing ISRO under the shade of the Department of Space further helped in the institutionalization of all missions and henceforward all institutions and centers have been governed by the same department.

The future of India’s space exploration missions was sealed. Today as we have moved to a new century and a new decade, we are only waiting to see the limits being expanded day after day. With the responsibility lying on the hands of Kailasavadivoo Sivan, the Department of Space’s current executive and ISRO’s present director, this extra-terrestrial task is surely in worthy and safe hands. From its first satellite Aryabhatta to the next Mars Orbiter Mission 2, we only need to behold our own eyes as we see the present unfolding into a happening future.