Wings of fire - Sir APJ ABDUL KALAM Wings of fire | Page 38

procrastination. Actually, problems can be the cutting edge
that actually distinguish between success and failure. They
draw out innate courage and wisdom.
As soon as I returned from NASA, India’s first rocket
launch took place on 21 November 1963. It was a sounding
rocket, called NikeApache, made at NASA. The rocket was
assembled in the church building I have referred to earlier.
The only equipment available to transport the rocket was a
truck and a manually operated hydraulic crane. The
assembled rocket was to be shifted from the church
building to the launch pad by truck. When the rocket was
lifted by the crane and was about to be placed on the
launcher, it started tilting, indicating a leak in the hydraulic
system of the crane. As we were fast approaching the
launch time, 6 p.m., any repairs to the crane had to be ruled
out. Fortunately, the leak was not large and we managed to
lift the rocket manually, using our collective muscle power
and finally placing it on the launcher.
In the maiden Nike-Apache launch, I was in charge of
rocket integration and safety. Two of my colleagues who
played a very active and crucial role in this launch were D
Easwardas and R Aravamudan. Easwardas undertook the
rocket assembly and arranged the launch. Aravamudan,
whom we called Dan, was in charge of radar, telemetry and
ground support. The launch was smooth and problemfree.
We obtained excellent flight data and returned with a sense
of pride and accomplishment.
When we were relaxing the next evening at the dinner
table, we received news of the assassination of President
John F Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. We were appalled. The
Kennedy years were a significant era in America, when
young men were at the helm of affairs. I used to read with
interest about Kennedy’s moves in the missile crisis of late
1962. The Soviet Union built missile sites in Cuba, from
which it would have been possible to launch attacks on
American cities. Kennedy imposed a blockade or
‘quarantine’, barring the introduction of any offensive
missiles to Cuba. America also threatened to respond to
any Soviet nuclear attack from Cuba on any country in the
Western Hemisphere by retaliating against the USSR. After
fourteen days of intense drama, the crisis was resolved by
the Soviet Premier Khrushchev ordering that the Cuban
bases be dismantled and the missiles returned to Russia.
The next day, Prof. Sarabhai had a detailed discussion
with us on future plans. He was creating a new frontier in
the field of science and technology in India. A new
generation, scientists and engineers in their 30s and early
40s, was being charged with an unprecedented dynamism.
Our biggest qualifications at INCOSPAR were not our
degrees and training, but Prof. Sarabhai’s faith in our
capabilities. After the successful launch of Nike-Apache, he
chose to share with us his dream of an Indian Satellite
Launch Vehicle.
Prof. Sarabhai’s optimism was highly contagious. The
very news of his coming to Thumba would electrify people
and all laboratories, workshops and design offices would
hum with unceasing activity. People would work virtually
round the clock because of their enthusiasm to show Prof.
Sarabhai something new, something that had not been
done before in our country—be it a new design or a new
method of fabrication or even an out-of-the-way
administrative procedure. Prof. Sarabhai would often
assign multiple tasks to a single person or a group. Though
some of those tasks would appear totally unrelated in the
beginning, they would, at a later stage, emerge as deeply
interconnected. When Prof. Sarabhai was talking to us