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How India rewrote the rules of space travel when it launched its first satellite

Fifty years ago, a spacecraft designed and built by young Indian scientists redefined what a low-income country could achieve.
By
  1. Pranav Sharma

    1. Pranav Sharma is a science historian at the Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru, India, and a visiting faculty member of the Druk Gyalpo’s Institute in Paro, Bhutan.

In the early hours of 19 April 1975, the mood at the Soviet military launch site of Kapustin Yar — a space test facility north of the Caspian Sea — was heavy with anticipation. Scientists and engineers moved with brisk deliberation, the pre-launch silence was punctuated only by the rustle of paper, the clicking of relays and the careful exchange of words in thick Russian and Indian accents.

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Nature 640, 877-879 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-01235-4

Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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