FROM ARYABHATTA TO ADITYA: INDIA'S GLORIOUS SPACE SAGA

April 09, 2026

Nikunja Bihari Sahu

Nearly two years ago, India created history by softlanding its Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander on the permanently shadowed south pole of the Moon which is known for its treasure trove of mineral deposits. This made India the first country in the world to softland on the Moon's South pole and explore the surface with a rover.

India has a glorious heritage of astronomy rooted in mathematical precision, observational skills, and philosophical insights. From a few shadow measuring device of the post Vedic period to the colossal masonry observatories of Sawai Jai Singh, India ventured on a path to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos. The modern space age is dawned by the insights of our visionary scientist Dr Vikram Sarabhai. He realized that space exploration for a developing nation like India was not just a fancy, but a necessity to uplift the country economically and societally. He asserted that we should be second to none in the application of technology for bringing about transformational changes in the quality of life of the citizens. He dreamt of a country where satellites in the sky will beam back signals to solve many real life problems faced by people in the field of communication, weather forecasting, agriculture, health services,disaster management and education. To materialise his dreams, he initiated space activities in India with a humble beginning at Thumba in 1963 with the firing of Apache sounding rockets. This was the time when a church was converted to a makeshift launching station and rocket materials were transported using bicycles and bullock carts. Overcoming these early days of dwindling resources and depleted manpower, India marched triumphantically in its mission driven by indigenous technologies and innovations to launch its first satellite Aryabhatta in 1975 and eventually to reach the Moon through its Chandrayaan-3 mission.

India's space programme is characterised by cost affordability, reliability and consistency. For instance, the Chandrayaan-3 mission cost only 615 crores, which is less than the cost of a typical Hollywood movie. Our launch vehicle PSLV has proved time and again to be the workhorse of ISRO for its proven reliability and flawless operations. Further, India proved its space prowess by launching 104 satellites in a single launch in 2017. Besides the Moon, India also sent missions to the Sun and Mars. Many foreign nations have reposed their faith on India to launch their satellites with our proven rockets. Over the years, ISRO has emerged as a symbol of India’s scientific spirit, resilience, and aspiration to reach new frontiers—proving that with determination and innovation, the sky is not the limit, but just the beginning.

Exploring the Moon, our closest celestial neighbour, has remained a long-cherished goal for humanity. In the days when only 50% of lunar missions succeed, ISRO entered the moon race with its Chandrayaan-1 The mission,in a groundbreaking discovery, detected the evidence of water molecules in the atmosphere of the Moon. However, the subsequent Chandrayaan-2 mission, launched in 2019, lost contact with the Earth seconds before touchdown and probably crash-landed on the Moon. Chandrayaan- 3 followed the footsteps of its predecessor missions and completed the unfinished task with a flawless softlanding. Building upon its experience with Chandrayaan-1, ISRO developed Mangalyaan that arrived at the red planet on a low budget in 2014.

India's successful lunar exploration was a feat long due for a nation of 1.4 billion people and having the advantage of inheriting some of the greatest space legacies of the world like Vikram Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan and U R. Rao. ISRO was set up in 1969 (a few days ahead of the USA landed its astronauts on the Moon) and it took only 54 years for it to achieve a soft-landing of its unmanned spacecraft on the Moon. This is notwithstanding the developing status of our country's economy where other emergency sectors like health, education, and agriculture etc are to be prioritised.

However, we should not be complacent of our lunar accomplishments and rather eye for even bigger goals in space exploration. Our manned space flight programme Gaganyaan is running way behind schedule. Substantial work is yet to be started for building a space station in low earth orbit.

In another significant development, an Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla created history by flying to the International Space Station aboard the Falcon-9 spacecraft of the SpaceX company as a part of the Axiom 4 mission. He spent nearly 14 days in space conducting several crucial scientific experiments in zero gravity conditions. His journey will certainly help to boost our future human spaceflight programme.

ISRO's next big goal is the Gaganyaan manned spaceflight mission which is going to take off early next year. For this, the astronauts have already been designated and various safety systems tested. We hope that Candrayaan-3’s success and its legacy will serve as a catalyst for inspiring our future space missions in soaring to new heights of success and glory.

Education Officer

Regional Science Centre

Bhubaneswar

Phone: 8917637974