ISRO's Bicycle Beginnings: How India's Space Agency Pedaled Its Way to Success

Raj: Diya, did you know that ISRO was formed in 1962 under the leadership of Vikram Sarabhai and physicist Kalpathi Ramakrishna Ramanathan?

Diya: No, I didn't know that. What did they have when they started?

Raj: Well, they had very limited resources, a small pool of scientists, and barely any funding. In fact, for the first rocket they launched a year later, they were transporting the parts to be assembled by bicycle.

Diya: Wow, that's incredible. What was the first rocket they launched?

Raj: It was a sounding rocket meant for probing the upper atmosphere. It was launched from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station in Kerala, which is now known as the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.

Diya: That's amazing.

Raj: Did you know that April 18th, your birthday, is just a day before India's first satellite launch?

Diya: Oh wow, that's really interesting! I had no idea.

Raj: The Aryabhata spacecraft was India's first satellite ever launched. It was completely designed and fabricated in India, but it was launched on board the Soviet Kosmos-3M rocket on April 19, 1975.

Diya: And what about the first Indian-made rocket launch by ISRO?

Raj: ISRO went on to build its first launch vehicle, the Satellite Launch Vehicle-3 (SLV-3), which was an experimental satellite launch vehicle. It was a solid four-stage rocket weighing 17 tonnes, and capable of placing 40 kg class payloads in Low-Earth Orbit. It was launched on July 18, 1980 from the Sriharikota Range, with the Rohini satellite RS-1 on board. This officially made India the sixth nation to independently put an indigenously-made vehicle into space.

Diya: That's impressive. What other notable achievements did ISRO have?

Raj: Well, in 1984, Indian astronaut Rakesh Sharma was part of a joint manned mission between India and the Soviet Union, and he spent eight days on board the Russian space station Salyut 7, making him the only Indian national to date to ever go to space. In 2008, ISRO also achieved its biggest achievement yet, getting a satellite into orbit around the Moon during the Chandrayaan-1 mission. And in 2013, they launched the Mangalyaan/Mars Orbiter Mission, which was finally inserted into Martian orbit in 2014.

Diya: Wow, those are all incredible accomplishments. And now with Chandrayaan 2, ISRO has put another feather in its illustrious cap, showing the world how to launch rockets in space on a tight budget.

Raj: Yes, it's amazing what they've been able to achieve with limited resources. It just goes to show that anything is possible.