Why reusable launch vehicle was Kalam’s dream project

I narrowly missed working with Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. I joined the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) just after Kalam had left for the DRDO in 1982. Still my bosses introduced me and my work to him. What is so wonderful about Dr Kalam is that when I met him during the Mars Orbiter Mission last year, he not only remembered my name but also my field of work. He asked me about the project I was working on at that time: "So what is happening to Sitara (a 6-D trajectory simulation software)?" That was how we connected with, cared for people.

Kalam was the father of Indian rocketry. He was the project director of our first satellite launch vehicle (SLV). All the launch vehicles that we have had evolved from the SLV-3 that Kalam designed. When he came to Thumba, he was a payload scientist. Soon he started working on vehicles. His contribution to the SLV took the ISRO to the next level. The best way to reduce the cost of launching is to use a Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), which will go to the orbit, return, refuel and then fly again. This was Kalam's dream project. Even when he was in the DRDO, he was obsessed by it. We are now in that path: the first phase of RLV's demonstration will be conducted in October. The real RLV will be the ultimate tribute to Kalam.

He was always interacting with people, especially the younger generation. He believed that instead of trying to convert grown-ups, the young should be imbued with new knowledge. Knowledge, he used to say, should be harnessed in the right direction and given momentum. He sought out the young, the students. It was because of his inspiration that people became enthusiastic about space and science and technology in this country. He would readily attend a function in an educational institute; it didn't matter if it was big or small. The last thing he did was what he loved the most: address students.

Kalam was an extraordinary scientist who could not be confined to one domain. He would find ideas out of nothing. That was the greatness of Kalam. Whatever he touched became the most significant in that field. In the VSSC, it was the launch vehicle, in the DRDO it was Agni. Then came the nuclear test in Pokhran.

We should make India more glorious: that was his mantra. But according to him India's glory did not rest in temples or churches but on education and knowledge, more knowledge.

(As told to Charmy Harikrishnan.)