From Thumba to tomorrow: Indian space programme is preparing for its biggest leap yet
India celebrates National Space Day, reflecting on the evolution of its space program from the 1963 Thumba rocket launch to the recent success of Chandrayaan-3. The program has consistently focused on using space technology to address national developmental challenges.
Why it matters
Highlights the historical and technological progress of India's space agency and its role in national development.
BENGALURU: August 23, 2023, gave India an image it had waited decades to see: a spacecraft settling on the Moon, its lander and rover beginning work near the lunar south polar region. But the significance of Chandrayaan-3 was perhaps easier to understand if one looked backwards.Six decades earlier, India was still figuring out how to launch a sounding rocket from a small range at Thumba, near Thiruvananthapuram.There were no Indian satellites, no launch vehicles capable of placing them in orbit, no sprawling network of mission control centres, tracking stations and testing facilities.
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