New Delhi [India], August 23 (ANI): The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has unveiled special modules tracing India’s remarkable space journey — from transporting rockets on bicycles and bullock carts in the 1960s to achieving landmark missions such as Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya-L1, which have established the country as one of the world’s most cost-efficient space powers.
Titled India: A Rising Space Power, the modules use photographs, diagrams, and timelines to help students understand India’s growth in space exploration. They recount how the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR), established in 1962 under Vikram Sarabhai, evolved into the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which has since become a leading force among global spacefaring nations.
“Our missions are low-cost and simple but high-tech and robust in design, self-reliant in most of their components, and strategically focused,” the module states, summarizing ISRO’s philosophy.
Two versions of the module have been developed — one for middle-stage students and another for secondary students. Both honor India’s astronauts, including Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma, who became the first Indian in space in 1984, and Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who in June 2025 became the first Indian to stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The modules highlight milestones such as the launch of Aryabhata, India’s first satellite, in 1975, and the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE), which brought television to rural India. They contrast these early achievements with recent feats, such as Chandrayaan-3’s historic south pole landing in 2023, making India the first nation to touch down in that lunar region.
Key missions listed include Chandrayaan-1, which discovered water molecules on the Moon; Mangalyaan (2013), which made India the first Asian nation to reach Mars and the first globally to succeed on its maiden attempt; Chandrayaan-2 (2019), whose orbiter continues to transmit crucial lunar data; and Aditya-L1 (2023), India’s first solar observatory, which is studying solar storms and the Sun’s outer atmosphere.
The modules also cover upcoming projects such as the NASA-ISRO NISAR satellite, which will provide detailed data on Earth’s ecosystems and natural disasters, as well as Gaganyaan, India’s human spaceflight mission that aims to send a three-member crew to low Earth orbit. Future endeavors include Chandrayaan-4, a lunar sample return mission, and the Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS), India’s planned space station approved in 2024.
Alongside scientific advances, the content underscores India’s role as a global space service provider. ISRO has completed 131 spacecraft and 101 launch missions, including deploying more than 430 foreign satellites from 35 countries, bolstering its reputation as a reliable, low-cost launch hub.
The modules also emphasize space applications that benefit daily life, from NavIC — India’s navigation system, now internationally recognized for maritime use — to tele-education, telemedicine, disaster management, and real-time information services.
“India’s space programme is not just about exploring planets and stars but also about improving lives on Earth through applications in weather forecasting, agriculture, education, and health,” the modules underline.
They also point to the future, highlighting the emergence of over 200 space startups collaborating with ISRO and global agencies. With this momentum, India has set a target to capture eight percent of the global space economy by 2035. (ANI)
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