A ‘Big Book’ on the Indian space programme draws visitors to the Space Museum

Books on the Indian space programme are nothing new. But what about a Big Book on the Indian space programme?

The latest draw for visitors at the Space Museum at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre’s (VSSC) Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) is Pedalling to Galactic Heights - An ISRO Story.

The description ‘big book’ tends to conjure up the image of a tome that has 500 or 1,000 pages, but in this case, it is purely literal; the book is 3 ft long and 2 ft wide. It is also kept outside, under a tree in the ‘Rocker Garden,’ next to the old St. Mary Magdalene Church, which today houses the Space Museum.

Each page of the Big Book is sheathed in polythene to protect it from the rain. The pages of the book are devoted to important milestones, individuals and missions of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Simple innovation

One page is devoted to the life of Vikram Sarabhai, the father of India’s space programme, and the chairpersons of ISRO. The book also provides a glimpse into the growth of the VSSC, the lead unit of ISRO for launch vehicles, and the space scientists who were its directors over the years.

A. Rajarajan, the director VSSC, described the ‘Big Book’ as a “simple innovation’‘ meant to catch the eye of children and to nurture the scientific temper in them. “This is an attempt to kindle interest in the children. Everything needs a visual impact nowadays,” Mr. Rajarajan said. “There are many ways to motivate children,” he said.

Other pages deal with the beginnings of space science research in India, the significance of the magnetic equator and the beginnings of Indian rocketry. “On November 21, 1963, a two-stage sounding rocket, Nike-Apache, was launched from TERLS marking the beginning of space exploration in India. In 1968, TERLS was dedicated to the United Nations and many countries including the U.S., Russia and France conducted various upper atmospheric studies in TERLS,” it notes. 

The book covers the early days of the space programme, among others, the Aryabhatta and Bhaskara satellites, the landmark Satellite Launch Vehicle-3 (SLV-3) mission which placed the Rohini satellite in orbit in July 1980, and the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).

The Chandrayaan moon missions, the Mangalyaan Mars Orbiter Mission, Gaganyaan – India’s upcoming mission to take a human into space – and the reusable launch vehicle project also find a place in the book. Other pages are dedicated to the future programme spanning India’s Space Vision 2047 and the outreach programmes of ISRO.  

The research team behind Pedalling to Galactic Heights - An ISRO Story consisted of Venkatesh S.S., Navya K.R. and Amlan Datta. The design team included Harikrishnan R., Lekshmy Preeti Money, Nirandharan V., Adarsh T.M. and Niranjana M.R.

In December 2024, VSSC and its Space Museum had grabbed headlines when it installed a polar sundial with analemmatic correction in the Rocket Garden.