Chitnis and Kale recollect experience of launching India's first rocket on November 21, 1965
Remembering the contributions of legendary Homi J Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai to the Indian space research programme, scientists Prof Dr EV Chitnis and Pramod Kale, who were members of the team that launched the first rocket for India on November 21, 1963, exactly 50 years ago, said that though the two famous scientists passed away early, they had a laid a strong foundation of Indian space research. Chitnis and Kale said that the grandeur of their vision has manifested into reality.
The scientists were speaking on the occasion of celebrating the 50 years of rocket launching programme of India. The session was organised by MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications.
Dr Chitnis, a Padma Bhushan awardee and former director of Space Application Centre of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), relived the memories of the operation that started in July, 1962 and was completed on November 21, 1963 – a period of 16 months.
The execution of the space programme took place in Thumba in Kerala, which now houses the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS).
Kale, who is the director of Integrated Circuit and Information Technology Pvt. Ltd., was part of the team that went to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States of America (USA) for training before the programme.
“Four rockets were delivered to us by America. We did not have rocket storage and rocket assembly facilities constructed at Thumba then. We kept the rockets with the Indian Air Force for some time,” Kale recalled.
Indian scientists, with the guidance of Sarabhai, went on to construct indigenous equipment for the launch. On November 21, 1963, the rocket was launched at approximately 6:47 pm.
Vijay Thombre, chairman and managing director of MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications, said that this day is very important in the history of India’s scientific development.
“On the backdrop of Mangalyaan, this gains even more importance. The future belongs to science and MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications aims to create a communication platform for activities and people associated with Indian science and technology,” said Thombre. Dr MC Uttam, head of the Pune Centre of ISRO and a junior of Dr Chitnis and Kale, said that he always received encouragement from his seniors even after failure.
Yeshwant Waghmare, vice-president of the Maharashtra Education Society, said that Sarabhai and Bhabha provided young scientists the environment to work freely and gave such momentum that a legacy of development was born. Summing up, Dr. Chitnis said that ISRO has set up an example of great management.
“Passion has been the real driving force for scientists. ISRO is our gift to the nation,” he said.
Let’s take him!
In an interesting anecdote, Chitinis mentioned how Dr APJ Abdul Kalam joined ISRO. “In January 1962, Sarabhai, HGS Murthy and I were discussing in Cambridge about whom to hire for the programme. Sarabhai shared some details about Kalam. I saw them and said - let’s take him,” he recollected.
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