From using bicycles to carry parts of the 1st rocket to launching 104 satellites on a single rocket.

The Story of - ISRO.

A Thread

1/ The late 1940s is when researchers in India started to coordinate space research.

2/ In 1945, Dr. Homi Bhabha had established the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) with financial support from the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust.

3/ Around the same time, in 1947, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai had returned to India and established Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad to further research on cosmic rays after his doctorate from Cambridge.

4/ By the 1950s, TIFR had gained prestige in elementary particle physics and cosmic ray physics. And in 1954, the Department of Atomic Energy was established and it was responsible for funding atomic and space research in India.

5/ When the Soviet Union launched the world's first-ever satellite, Sputnik, in 1957, everyone realized the potential and importance of satellites and space research.

6/ Jawaharlal Nehru, India's then and first Prime Minister, gave the responsibilities of space research to the Department of Atomic Energy (DOA).

7/ In 1962, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai established the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) with the support of Dr. Homi Bhabha and took over the space research responsibilities.

8/ Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was one of the early members of the INCOSPAR committee that was set up by Dr. Vikram Sarabhai. The main goal of INCOSPAR was to formulate space research in India.

9/ The committee decided to build and launch India's first-ever rocket by the end of next year.

10/ The interesting thing about India's first rocket launch is the location - Thumba. Thumba was the ideal location to conduct upper atmospheric studies, but a rural area otherwise.

11/ Undoubtedly, Thumba did not have the launchpad and research facilities at the time to make the launch possible.

12/ With the request from Dr. Vikram Sarabhai and his team, St. Mary Magdalene Church in Thumba was converted into a workshop and the Bishop's house was converted into an office for the scientists of INCOSPAR.

13/ Since Thumba did not have canteen facilities, scientists had to cycle to the Thiruvananthapuram Railway Station for their breakfast and dinner every day.

14/ Back then, to make India's first rocket launch possible, some rocket parts had to be transported to the launchpad on bicycles.

15/ On 21st November 1963, India successfully launched its first-ever rocket - just one year after INCOSPAR was established. That's how Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station or TERLS was born.

16/ 6 years later, on India's 23nd Independence Day - 15th August 1969, ISRO was formed out of INCOSPAR.

17/ In 1975, ISRO became a Government Organization.

18/ On 19th April 1975, Aryabhata - India's first satellite was launched from the Soviet Union. The project cost was just a little over Rs. 3 Crore.

19/ In 1980, ISRO successfully launched and deployed Rohini RS-1. It was the first successful launch of Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-3). Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was the project director at the time.

20/ A year later, ISRO wanted to launch an experimental communication satellite - Ariane Passenger PayLoad Experiment (APPLE).

21/ Before the launch, the satellite antennas had to be tested and was only possible to test it under a thermal blanket - the kind of facility that ISRO did not have at the time.

22/ APPLE was then put on a bullock cart to provide a non-magnetic atmosphere and test the antennas in a field.

23/ All the tests conducted by ISRO helped launch APPLE successfully on June 19, 1981, from Kourou, French Guiana.

24/ In 1994, ISRO successfully launched its first Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) mission. Later on, PSLV became the choice of the launch vehicle for Chandrayaan-1 and Mangalyaan missions.

25/ At one point of time in 2004, ISRO’s team was meeting India’s then-President Dr. ABJ Abdul Kalam to discuss India’s first lunar mission aimed at orbiting the moon from a distance. During the meeting, Dr. Kalam suggested why not land on the Moon instead of just orbiting it.

26/ 4 years later, Chandrayaan-1 - India's first lunar mission was launched to land on the Moon and explore it.

27/ In November 2008, Chandrayaan-1 discovered water on the Moon in the form of ice and gave a huge boost to ISRO and India's position in space research. India also became the 4th country to place its flag insignia on the Moon. A historic year for India and ISRO!

28/ 5 years later, in 2013, ISRO successfully launched the Mangalyaan Mission - also known as Mars Orbiter Mission.

29/ On 24 September 2014, when Mangalyaan entered the orbit of Mars, India became the first country in the world to do so in the very first attempt.

30/ An impressive feat about the Mangalyaan Mission is that ISRO successfully carried out the whole mission with an estimated cost of $74M only. For comparison, the budget for the movie ‘Gravity’ was $100M.

31/ 2017 was a record-breaking year for ISRO - it launched 104 satellites on a single rocket. The record was previously held by Russia for launching 37 satellites in 2014.

32/ Earlier this year, ISRO announced that it is aiming at launching India's 3rd Lunar Mission - Chandrayaan-3 in 2021.

33/ ISRO's future plans include a manned mission 'Gaganyaan' by 2022, a follow-up of the Mangalyaan by 2024, and build a space station in the coming years as a follow-up of the Gaganyaan programme.

To me, @ISRO’s best achievement is inspiring billions to dream bigger and aim higher.

A huge shoutout to @VishwakantB for helping me with the research. References and further reads: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NVdLjXMse2i0rUSqLvOhxOEKy18WDIY8vSasXOcXpYA/edit?usp=sharing

End of Thread. Stay tuned for another thread soon.