The Hindu : National : A nostalgic homecoming for Kalam

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Friday, Jul 29, 2005

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National

A nostalgic homecoming for Kalam

T.S. Subramanian

Model of SLV-3 at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre fascinates him

— Photo: S. Mahinsha

FOND MEMORIES: ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair presenting a collage of pictures of SLV-3 days to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at Thumba in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is at extreme left.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam stood in front of a huge model of the SLV-3 (Satellite Launch Vehicle) erected in front of the Control Centre of the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) here on Thursday, he looked fascinated and thrilled. For, the model looked the same as the SLV-3 that he and his team built in 1980 catapulting India into space. "Majestic!" he exclaimed, as he saw the model. The SLV-3 had put the 38.5 kg Rohini satellite into orbit.

Silver jubilee

It was a nostalgic homecoming for Mr. Kalam when he visited the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, to take part in the silver jubilee celebrations of the first successful flight of the SLV-3 and inaugurate a symposium on the occasion. He was the Project Director of the July 1980 flight. And, it was in the VSSC that the SLV-3s were built. In the early 1960s, he had joined the Space Science and Technology Centre (SSTC) at Thumba as a rocket engineer. The SSTC was later named after Vikram Sarabhai.

"Mr. Kalam always cherished coming to VSSC and meeting people here. It is essentially going back in history for him," said B.N. Suresh, Director, VSSC. The President watched a special launching of a Rohini-200 (RH-200) sounding rocket, meant for studying weather. Before its launch, he went to its Control Centre and was happy to see the various modules there. "Nothing has changed since I was here," he said. According to Dr. Suresh, Mr. Kalam recalled the accidents and the problems encountered when he and other young engineers were building the Rohini series of sounding rockets and later the SLV-3s. He talked about the days when the "Menaka" series of sounding rockets were launched from Thumba.

He was glad that the old instruments and consoles at the Control Centre were still maintained well and that the sounding rockets continued to be launched from Thumba. Dr. Suresh said, "Mr. Kalam loved the atmosphere of meeting his old friends.

He went into nostalgia about what happened in the old days. In my opinion, he felt very homely here."

The President told the VSSC engineers and scientists gathered at the Control Centre, " Our constant successes have led us to achieve maturity in launch vehicle technology. Keep it up and leap forward towards the future."

Later, after he inaugurated the silver jubilee function, he met his former VSSC and SHAR colleagues. He paused to strike up a conversation with a few young journalists.

He told them that they should go to the villages and write about the problems that rural people faced. "You should give more thrust [in your coverage] to the village people than to the city dwellers," he told them. He added, "What is interesting is that I see a lot of young people as journalists nowadays."

As he strode forward, he ran into Rathinaraj Jayamani, who retired from ISRO as the Project Director of the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). "Hello, General," Mr. Kalam humourously called out to him.

Here, the President's memory faltered a bit. Mr. Jayamani later said his colleagues called him "Field Marshal" during his days at Sriharikota.

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