Vikram Sarabhai: The Man Who Took India to Space

[Music] November 21, 1963, a rocket suddenly rises into the sky over Thumba, a small village on the coast of Kerala. People look at him in surprise and go away and the children start clapping loudly. This was India's first sounding rocket Nike Apache which flew towards the sky and sounded the bugle of a new revolution in India.

This launch was not just a technical achievement but it was the first ray of a dream that a visionary scientist had seen. This visionary scientist was none other than Dr. Vikram Sarabhai. Who is called the Father of the Indian Space Program. That was a time when India was struggling with poverty, unemployment and

illiteracy. The world was asking why a poor country needs space research ? Indian newspapers were printing 'We need rice, not rockets'. But Vikram Sarabhai's vision was that if India is poor then we should invest more in space technology because only this technology can solve the real problems of the country. He linked satellites to communications, weather forecasting, agriculture, and education, proving that space is

not just for the war race but also for the welfare of humanity. He not only made India self-reliant in the space program by laying the foundation of ISRO, but he also created many prestigious institutes of science, research and management which opened new doors of progress for a backward and problem-ridden India. He was

so filled with the feeling of patriotism that he even invested his personal wealth in the development of the country and accepted to work for a token salary of only ₹1 throughout his life to establish India in space. His status was so high that even great personalities like Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam considered him their guru. So let us know the