Wings of fire - Sir APJ ABDUL KALAM Wings of fire | Page 43

involved with their work that any dilution of the success of
their effort fills them with grief.
Prof. Oda was an X-ray payload scientist from the
Institute of Space and Aeronautical Sciences (ISAS),
Japan. I remember him as a diminutive man with a towering
personality and eyes that radiated intelligence. His
dedication to his work was exemplary. He would bring X-
ray payloads from ISAS, which along with the X-ray
payloads made by Prof. UR Rao, would be engineered by
my team to fit into the nose cone of the Rohini Rocket. At
an altitude of 150 km, the nose cone would be separated
by explosion of pyros triggered by an electronic timer. With
this, the X-ray sensors would be exposed to space for
collecting the required information about the emissions
from stars. Together, Prof. Oda and Prof. Rao were a
unique blend of intellect and dedication, which one rarely
sees. One day, when I was working on the integration for
Prof. Oda’s payload with my timer devices, he insisted on
using the timers he had brought from Japan. To me they
looked flimsy, but Prof. Oda stuck to his stand that the
Indian timers be replaced by the Japanese ones. I yielded
to his suggestion and replaced the timers. The rocket took
off elegantly and attained the intended altitude. But the
telemetry signal reported mission failure on account of
timer malfunction. Prof. Oda was so upset that tears welled
up in his eyes. I was stunned by the emotional intensity of
Prof. Oda’s response. He had clearly put his heart and soul
into his work.
Sudhakar was my colleague in the Payload Preparation
Laboratory. As part of the pre-launch schedule, we were
filling and remotely pressing the hazardous sodium and
thermite mix. As usual, it was a hot and humid day at
Thumba. After the sixth such operation, Sudhakar and I
went into the payload room to confirm the proper filling of
the mix. Suddenly, a drop of sweat from his forehead fell
onto the sodium, and before we knew what was happening,
there was a violent explosion which shook the room. For a
few paralysed seconds, I did not know what to do. The fire
was spreading, and water would not extinguish the sodium
fire. Trappe