‘Space: The India Story’ by Dinesh C Sharma: The ups and downs of Indian space efforts

New Delhi is the capital of the Union of India, and all ministries and departments are headquartered there, except two: the Department of Atomic Energy in Mumbai and the Department of Space in Bengaluru. Why this deviation? Why is the Space Department located in Bengaluru or the Indian Space Research Organisation’s launch sites in Thumba or Sriharikota? This unusual circumstance stems from a phone call received in the winter of 1972.

The phone rang ominously in the office of Prof Satish Dhawan at Caltech. After nearly nine years as director of the prestigious Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, Dhawan went on a year’s sabbatical in 1971. He had planned to pay a visit to his alma mater, Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory, Caltech, in the United States.

The office assistant answered the phone while Dhawan was in class teaching graduate students experimental fluid dynamics. When the assistant heard who was on the line, he ran to the lecture hall. Dhawan, who was distracted, was taken aback.

On the phone was LK Jha, India’s ambassador in Washington. In a gloomy voice, Jha informed him that Vikram Sarabhai, the chief of India’s fledgling nuclear and space programmes, was found dead in his hotel room in Kerala on December 30, 1971. Dhawan was shocked. Jha paused to allow the message to sink in before switching to an official tone, “I have a message from Mrs Gandhi for you.” The Prime Minister wanted him to head the space programme. Jha further stated that a new Department of Space was being set up to oversee ISRO and that she wanted him to serve as its secretary.

Dhawan remembered the eventful day: “I told him (Jha) that I was in the middle of a class. I had been pulled out to attend the call. I will complete my assignment here and come and see the Prime Minister.”

After a month, he returned to India and wrote a lengthy letter to the Prime Minister outlining his vision for ISRO, which should be organised to develop satellites, launch vehicles, ground facilities, and applications in an integrated manner. He added two more conditions: he wanted the proposed Department of Space to have autonomy and that it be housed in Bengaluru, away from the bureaucracy of the national capital. Second, he wished to stay as the director of IISc.

Indira Gandhi gladly accepted the vision and conditions. Satish Dhawan was instrumental in establishing the Department of Space and ISRO. He established teams and centres to manage diverse space technologies, including rockets and propellants, satellite design and development, launch stations, ground testing facilities, tracking stations, and space applications. His handiwork encompasses sprawling centres such as the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, which focuses on rocket engines; a centre in Ahmedabad that addresses space applications; the Sriharikota range, which is developing a space station; the National Remote Sensing Agency in Hyderabad, and the ISRO satellite centre in Bengaluru.

Dinesh Sharma’s ‘Space: India Story’ is a page-turner that tells the fascinating stories that drove India’s pursuit of space technologies. The book explores the turbulent journey of Indian space efforts, beginning with the International Geophysical Year, which ran from July 1957 to December 1958 under the aegis of the United Nations. This year marked a turning point in the development of space technologies worldwide, including India.

The early launch vehicles experienced so many failures that people nicknamed the SLV and ASLV launch vehicles ‘Sea Loving Vehicle’ and ‘Always Sea Loving Vehicle’. The author recalls visiting the SHAR launch centre as a young reporter in 1987 to watch the launch of the Rohini satellite by ASLV; however, the maiden attempt failed. Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, said in a measured tone that failures were unavoidable in cutting-edge fields, adding, “Do not lose heat. Only when you stumble can you get back up and walk better.”

The book’s first half focuses on India in space, from the start of the space era to the development of launch vehicles, satellites, and space applications. It also chronicles the story of ISRO’s missions to the moon, Mars and Venus. The second section is titled ‘Indians in Space’. It recounts Rakesh Sharma, India’s first cosmonaut, and the tragic but inspiring narrative of Kalpana Chawla, Sunita Williams, and other astronauts of Indian origin. The book concludes with a delectable account of Gaganyaan, India’s first human space mission.

The Indian space effort is at a crossroads. The pressures of space industry privatisation and fantasies of a space economy are transforming the international landscape. The future of space accords, which consider celestial bodies and space to be a collective human inheritance, is at stake. The passage of the unilateral US Space Law, which many observers claim violates the provisions of UN-mediated international space treaties, is cause for alarm. The emergence of private businesses, such as SpaceX, and efforts to replace the ISS with privately owned and operated space stations will have far-reaching consequences. The most recent developments are discussed in just around nine pages, which may require a different book.

The book is packed with incisive observations and exotic curiosity; for example, did you know that a street in a remote Ukraine village is named after Rakesh Sharma at the request of members of a cooperative farm? Are you aware of the recent decision to send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Axiom Mission? This private crewed spacecraft is slated to precede the Gaganyaan mission.

‘Space: The India Story’ is delightful. As Jairam Ramesh says in the blurb, the book is indeed ‘very educative and engaging’.

— The writer is Visiting Professor, IISER, Mohali

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