Vikram Sarabhai

Hello, my name is Vikram Sarabhai. I was born a long time ago in my home country of India, in the year 1919. When I was a little boy, I loved science very much. At night, I would look up at the big, dark sky and see all the twinkling stars. I was so curious about the world and everything in it. I wondered what was up there, far above our heads. I had big dreams about learning new things and making discoveries that could help everyone. My heart was full of questions, and I couldn't wait to grow up and find the answers.

When I grew up, my biggest dream was to help India go to space. I wanted to build special rockets that could fly high, high up, past the clouds and toward the stars. It was a very big job, but I knew we could do it. So, I worked with many friends to build our very first special place to launch rockets. We wanted our rockets to carry something called satellites. Satellites are like little helpers in the sky. They can help farmers grow more food by telling them about the weather. They can also help students in faraway places learn new things. My dream wasn't just about going to space; it was about using space to help people here on Earth.

My work started a big space adventure for my country, India, and that adventure is still going on today. I lived to be 52 years old. My dream of using space to help people is still alive because of the many wonderful scientists who came after me. They keep reaching for the stars and using what they learn to make our world a better place, and that makes me very happy.