Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Autobiography 03

  I sacked for a long time with my mother, but could not speak She blessed me in a chewed voice, and I took leave of her to return the tumbler. The SLV 3 rocket scheduled to the flight tested in France was mired with problems. Had to rush to France to sort them out. Before I could depart, I was informed that my mother had passed away. with three deaths in the family. I needed total commitment to my work in order to keep performing. the desire to work at optimum capacity leaves hardly any room for anything else with this total commitment and single mindedness. The slv 3 dream was finally realized in the middle of 1979 who had scheduled the first experimental flight trial of SLV 3 for the 10th of August 1979 The 23 meter long four stage SLV rocket weighing 17 tons took off elegantly at 758 hours. Stage one performed duplex. There was a smooth transition from this stage to the second stage. We were spellbound to see our hopes flying in the form of SLV 3. Secondly, the spell was broken The second stage went out of control The flight was terminated after 317 seconds and the vehicles remains including my favorite fourth stage with the payload. Splashed into the sea 560 kilometers off Sheharikota. The incident caused us profound disappointment. I've felt a strange mix of anger and frustration completely. dreamed mentally as well as physically. I went straight to my room and slumped onto the bed. A gentle touch on my shoulder woke me up. It was late in the afternoon almost approaching evening I saw Dr Brum Prakash sitting by my bedside. I was deep. I was deeply touched by his affection and concern. I was. sad but not alone. A post flight review established that the mishap occurred because of the failure of the second stage control system. Everybody was convinced by the technical cause and effect sequence presented and there was a general feeling of satisfaction about the whole exercise of failure management measures take I was still unconvinced though and felt restless on this. on the spur of the moment I stood up and addressed Professor Dhawan Sir even though my friends have technically justified the failure. I take the responsibility for judging the RFNA leaked detective during the final phase of countdown as insignificant as a mission director. I therefore take responsibility for the SLV 3 failure. The pursuit of science is a combination of great elation and great despair. I went over many such episodes in my mind The idea that a man could land on the moon developed by Russian mathematician was realized after nearly four decades and by the United States at that. Professor Chandra Shekhar had to wait nearly 50 years before receiving the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the Chandra Shekhar limit. A discovery made while he was a graduate student at Cambridge in the 1930s. How many failures must Fawn Brown have gone through before his Saturn launched vehicle put man on the moon to live only for some unknown future is superficial. It's. like climbing a mountain to reach the peak without experiencing its sights. The sights of the mountain sustained life not the week. This is where things grow. Experience is gained and technologies are master with importance of the peak lies only in the fact that it defines the sights. I went in little steps just one step after another, but each step towards the top. on the 17th of July 1980 thirty hours before the launch of the second SLV 3. The newspapers were filled with all kinds of predictions. Many reports preferred to trace the history of the first SLV 3 flight and recalled how the third stage had failed to ignite because of lack of fuel and the rocket had nosed out into the ocean. Some. were a general prognosis of all that aired our country and related it to the SLV 3. I knew that the next day's launch was going to decide the future of the Indian space program. In fact, to put it simply, the eyes of the whole nation were on us. in the early hours of the next day, the 18th of July 1980 at 803 hours to be precise. India's first satellite launch vehicle SLV 3 lifted off. I saw the computer displaying data about stage 4 giving the required velocity to the Rohini satellite to enter its orbit within the next two minutes. Rohini was set into motion in a low Earth orbit. I spoke in the midst of speeching decibels the most important words I've ever uttered in my life. Mission director calling all stations stand by for an important announcement. All stages performed to mission requirements. The 4th stage at which I motor has given the required velocity to put Rohini satellite into operate to a happy Christopher. When I came out of the block house, I was lifted onto the shoulders of my 2 billion colleagues and carried in a position. The whole nation was excited in India. had made its entry into the small group of nations which possessed satellite launch capability. It was both the culmination of a national dream and the beginning of a very important phase in our nation's history Prime Minister Indira Gandhi cabled her congratulations. most important reaction was that of the Indian scientific community. Everybody was proud of this 100 percent indigenous effort. I experienced mixed feelings. I was happy to achieve the success which had been evading me for the past two decades. But I was sad because the people who had inspired me were no longer there to share my joy. My father, my brother in law, Jalaluddin and Professor Sarah the credit for the successful SLV 3 flight goes first to the Giants of the Indian Space Program. Professor Sarabhai in particular, who had preceded this effort next Hundreds of VSSC personnel who had to share willpower through the medal of our countrymen, and also not least to Professor Dhawan and Dr Bram Prakash, who had let the project. Within a month of the SLV 3 success, I received a call from Professor Gavin in Delhi, asking me to join him the next morning to meet the prime minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi I had a small problem. It had to do with my clothes. I was dressed casually, as is my wound, and wearing slippers not to buy any standards of ethical, suitable attire in which to meet the prime minister. When I told Professor Dhawan about this problem, he told me not to worry about my dress. You are beautifully cliled in your success, equipped. professor and I arrived at the Parliament House annex the next mall. There were about 30 members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the room. Professor MGK Menon and Dr Nag Chowdhury were also present. Shrimati Gandhi spoke to the members about the success of the slv 3 and lauded our achievement. in January 1981 the renowned nuclear scientist, Professor Raja Ramana, invited me for a private meeting. The Program had been shelved in spite of tremendous achievements made by Narayanan and his team at the Defense Research and Development Laboratory. DRDL, the entire program of military rockets was really under a persistent apathy. Professor Ramana asked me if I would like to join DRDR at shoulder the responsibility of shaping their guided missile development program. My friend honored by the esteem in which professor Mamata held me. Republic Day, 1981 brought with it a pleasant surprise. The confirmant of the Padmakshmi Award on me. I filled my room with the music of Bismillah Khan. Shenai. the music took me to another time, another place. I visited Ramesh and hugged my mother. My father ran his caring fingers through my hair. My mentor, Chala Ludin, announced the news to the crowd gathered on Moss Street My sister, Saurabh, prepared special sweets for me. Pakshi Lakshmi Shastri put until a combat wine. Father Solomon bless me, holding the Holy Cross. I saw Professor Sarabhai smiling with a sense of achievement, the suckling which he had planted 20 years ago, had finally grown into a tree His fruit swimming appreciated by the people of India.