As Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scales new heights in the field of space exploration, date April 19, 1975 has special significance in India's history. On this day, its first indigenously-made satellite, named after Indian mathematician and astronomer Aryabhata was launched into space. Vikram Sarabhai, the father of India's space program, had tasked one of his scientists UR Rao for making an indigenously-built satellite. The launch of Aryabhata came 18 years after world's first satellite, Sputnik I, was launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957. Aryabhata was launched from Kapustin Yar in the then Soviet Union by a Kosmos-3M launch weighed 360 kilograms.

Source: dna April 19, 2018 08:59 UTC