"Dear friends, we have failed."
Those four words, spoken by Prof. Satish Dhawan in 1979, became one of the greatest leadership lessons in Indian history.
One year later, the same team would place India among the world's spacefaring nations.
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One of the closest-to-my-heart stories...
Whenever I write about ISRO, I find myself amazed by the fascinating stories of our nation's scientists and their relentless efforts to take India's space programme to the world stage. The more I read about them, the more I realize that behind every successful launch lies years of failures, persistence, engineering, and teamwork.
This story is about the remarkable leadership of Prof. Satish Dhawan, the tireless work of Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, and the dedication of thousands of scientists. It is a story of how they transformed the failure of SLV-3 into one of the greatest successes in India's scientific history within just one year.
This is the story of SLV-3.
Before I begin, I want to share why I am writing this post today. On 18 July 1980, India successfully launched its first satellite into orbit using an indigenously developed rocket. It was a historic milestone that changed the future of India's space programme forever.
The mission was first envisioned by the great visionary and Father of the Indian Space Programme, Dr. Vikram A. Sarabhai, in the early 1970s. The project received official approval in 1972, the same year Prof. Satish Dhawan, one of India's finest scientific leaders, became the third Chairman of ISRO.
For this ambitious mission, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, later known as the Missile Man of India and the country's 11th President, was appointed as the Project Director.
SLV-3 was India's first satellite launch vehicle project, designed to place a 40 kg Rohini satellite into Low Earth Orbit from Indian soil. Today, that number may seem small, but at that time, achieving it meant mastering technologies that India had never built before.
The project was led by Dr. Kalam along with distinguished engineers including Dr. S. Srinivasan, Ved Prakash Sandlas, D. Narayanamoorthi, G. Madhavan Nair, M. S. R. Dev, M. K. Abdul Majeed, D. Sasikumar, P. S. Veeraraghavan, and A. Sivathanu Pillai, supported by hundreds of scientists and engineers working behind the scenes.
Another towering figure behind SLV-3 was Prof. Brahm Prakash, Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). While Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam led the SLV-3 project, Prof. Brahm Prakash provided invaluable technical guidance, organizational leadership, and mentorship. His efforts in strengthening India's engineering and materials capabilities helped create the strong foundation on which SLV-3 was successfully developed.
From 1974 to 1978, under Dr. Kalam's leadership, multidisciplinary teams came together to build India's first satellite launch vehicle. Starting almost from scratch, they relied on the knowledge gained from the Rohini RH-75 sounding rocket programme. Unlike many spacefaring nations that built upon military ballistic missile technology, Indian scientists developed launch vehicle technology specifically for peaceful space exploration.
The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram became the heart of research and development, while Sriharikota evolved into a launch complex capable of handling larger rockets, tracking systems, and mission operations.
The result was an extraordinary engineering achievement: a 22-metre-tall, four-stage, all-solid-propellant launch vehicle weighing 17 tonnes and capable of placing a 40 kg payload into Low Earth Orbit.
Reading about the engineering involved is fascinating. Every subsystem had to work perfectly. Engineers designed and tested complex guidance systems, heat shields, stage-separation mechanisms, telemetry equipment, and onboard electronics. Thousands of components were designed, manufactured, tested, and tested again because even the smallest defect could determine the fate of an entire mission.
Before attempting a flight, each rocket stage underwent extensive static test firings to verify its thrust, burn duration, and structural integrity.
After nearly five years of relentless effort, India's first experimental mission, SLV-3 E1, lifted off from Sriharikota on 10 August 1979, carrying the 35 kg Rohini Technology Payload (RTP).
As the countdown approached its final moments, the computers indicated that the launch should not proceed because of a leakage issue. A solenoid valve in the control thruster system had failed to close completely. After carefully analysing the situation, the team decided to override the computer's hold and proceed with the launch.
The first stage performed exactly as expected. However, during the second-stage flight, a technical malfunction caused the vehicle to lose control.
The rocket ultimately crashed into the Bay of Bengal, 317 seconds after launch, approximately 560 km off the coast of Sriharikota.
For years, I wondered what must have gone through the minds of the scientists who had devoted nearly five years of their lives to that single moment.
Then came one of the greatest lessons in leadership.
«"Dear friends, we have failed."»
said Prof. Satish Dhawan. He accepted complete responsibility before the nation, protected his team from criticism, and assured them that they would succeed the following year.
Following the failure of the first experimental flight, the SLV-3 E2 mission, launched on 18 July 1980, saw India successfully place the Rohini RS-1 satellite into orbit using an indigenously developed launch vehicle.
The team led by Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam spent months analysing telemetry data. They identified the exact cause of the failure—a microscopic particle contaminating the second-stage solenoid valve—and redesigned the reaction control system to eliminate the problem.
Before the second launch of SLV-3, newspapers across the country were filled with predictions. Many revisited the story of the first launch in 1979, explaining how the rocket had failed and fallen into the Bay of Bengal. Yet, despite that setback, the scientists never gave up. The next launch was not just another mission—it represented the future of India's space programme.
On the morning of 18 July 1980, at 8:30 a.m., SLV-3 lifted off from Sriharikota Range (SHAR). I often imagine the atmosphere inside the mission control room. Years of calculations, countless tests, design reviews, and the hopes of an entire team came down to those few unforgettable minutes.
When the mission succeeded, celebrations erupted among the scientists and engineers. For the first time, India had successfully launched a satellite using its own launch vehicle, joining the select group of nations with independent satellite launch capability. It was not just a technological milestone—it marked the beginning of a new chapter in India's scientific journey.
When the mission succeeded, Prof. Satish Dhawan gave the credit to the team instead of taking it himself. It remains one of the greatest examples of leadership—a lesson that Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam later shared in many of his speeches and interviews.
What I find especially inspiring is that this success belonged to thousands of people. It reflected the vision of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the leadership of Prof. Satish Dhawan, the guidance of Prof. Brahm Prakash, and the relentless efforts of hundreds of scientists and engineers at VSSC. Their collective dedication turned a national dream into reality.
For Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the success was deeply personal. While he celebrated the achievement of the mission, he also felt the absence of those who had shaped his life—his parents, his brother-in-law, and Prof. Sarabhai. Reading this reminds me that behind every successful mission are people, emotions, sacrifices, and memories that are rarely visible to the world.
Every time I read about SLV-3, I become even more curious about how thousands of individual components, countless engineering decisions, and years of perseverance came together to accomplish what once seemed impossible. It reminds me that engineering is not merely about machines or equations; it is about solving problems, learning from failures, and building something that can inspire an entire nation.
With this historic triumph, India entered an elite club of nations possessing independent orbital launch capabilities, joining the ranks of the Soviet Union, the United States, France, Japan, and China.
What inspires me most is not just the rocket—it is the people behind it.
A year earlier, Prof. Satish Dhawan had stood before the media and accepted the blame for failure. After the historic success, he quietly stepped aside and asked Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam to address the press and receive the recognition.
A true leader accepts failure but shares success.
The success of SLV-3 validated nearly seven years of relentless research, engineering, and perseverance. More importantly, it laid the technological foundation for ISRO's future launch vehicles—including the ASLV, PSLV, GSLV, and LVM3—that continue to carry India's ambitions beyond Earth.
Sometimes, I think the greatest achievement of SLV-3 wasn't just placing a satellite into orbit. It was proving that with vision, perseverance, and belief, a nation could build its own path to space.
As I finished writing this story, I couldn't help but smile at another milestone in India's space journey.
More than four decades after SLV-3 proved that India could design, build, and launch its own satellite launch vehicle, a new generation of innovators is carrying that legacy forward. Skyroot Aerospace, India's first private company to successfully launch a rocket into space, has shown that the spirit of innovation ignited by pioneers like Dr. Vikram A. Sarabhai, Prof. Satish Dhawan, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, and thousands of ISRO scientists continues to inspire India's growing private space ecosystem.
From SLV-3 to ASLV, PSLV, GSLV, LVM3, and now privately developed launch vehicles, India's space journey is a powerful reminder that great achievements are built one step at a time—through vision, perseverance, and the courage to learn from failure.
Coincidentally, on this very day as I share the story of SLV-3, Skyroot Aerospace achieved another important milestone by successfully accomplishing the maiden launch of Vikram-1. Moments like these remind us that the dream envisioned by our pioneers continues to inspire a new generation of Indian space innovators.
My heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to the entire Skyroot Aerospace team. May you continue writing new chapters in India's space story.
Jai Hind! 🇮🇳
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