Vikram Sarabhai

Hello! My name is Vikram Sarabhai. I was born on August 12th, 1919, in a city called Ahmedabad in India. Even when I was a little boy, I was fascinated by how things worked. I loved science and machines so much that I even built a small, working steam engine to pull toy wagons for my family to see! My parents encouraged my curiosity, which made me want to learn even more about the world around me. My childhood was filled with learning and building, and I knew from a young age that I wanted to spend my life discovering new things.

As I grew up, my love for science took me all the way to England to study at the famous Cambridge University. I learned so much about physics and the universe. But even while I was far away, I always dreamed of returning to India to use science to help my country and its people. In 1947, after I came back home, I started a small laboratory in a room at my house. I called it the Physical Research Laboratory. It began with just a few people and some simple tools, but it was the start of something big. It grew and grew, becoming a special place where we could study the mysteries of space and our planet.

I often looked up at the night sky and saw the stars and the moon. I thought, 'Why can't India send things into space, too?' At the time, many people thought it was an impossible dream because it was very difficult and expensive. But I knew that satellites could help us in many ways. They could help us predict the weather for our farmers so they could grow better crops. They could also send lessons to schools in faraway villages that didn't have many teachers. I worked hard to convince our leaders that this was a good idea. Finally, in 1962, we started the Indian space program. Our very first rocket was launched from a small village called Thumba.

My biggest dream was to create a space agency for India, which later became known as the Indian Space Research Organisation, or ISRO. I hoped it would one day be able to build and launch our very own satellite from our own country. I lived to be 52 years old, and I was so happy to see our space program begin its amazing journey into the stars. Today, ISRO sends rockets and satellites into space to explore planets like Mars and to help people on Earth, just like I dreamed it would. I hope my story shows you that with curiosity and hard work, you can reach for the stars, too.