On National Space Day: From Aryabhatta to Gaganyaan — why I feel hopeful and cautious

Today, as India marks National Space Day, I find myself feeling a mixture of pride, wonder and a quiet philosophical unease. Pride because what once began as tentative sounding-rocket launches has become a national movement — one that links an ancient sky-gazing tradition to modern engineering feats. Wonder because the choreography of ideas, policy, institutions and people has produced results that few imagined possible a generation ago. Unease because rapid progress always carries responsibilities that are easy to romanticize and harder to live up to.

A moment of pride

On 23 August we remember the soft landing of Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram Lander and the deployment of the Pragyan rover — a moment that transformed a technical achievement into a shared symbol of possibility for millions of Indians National Space Day being celebrated across the country today, National Space Day-25. The landing site named Shiv Shakti Point now reads like an emblem: science, culture and ambition braided together.

The theme for this year — “Aryabhatta to Gaganyaan: Ancient Wisdom to Infinite Possibilities” — captures that braid beautifully. It is an invitation to see continuity across centuries: the same curiosity that drove Aryabhatta’s calculations can fuel our astronauts and engineers as they prepare for Gaganyaan About National Space Day-2025.

Signals that India is changing the global space map

A few concrete milestones make the change visible and durable:

• The private sector and startup ecosystem has mushroomed — from just a couple of startups in 2014 to well over 300 today — turning space from a narrow state project into an ecosystem with many entry points National Space Day being celebrated across the country today.
• The NISAR mission — a major NASA–ISRO collaboration — promises transformative Earth-observation capability and underscores how India is now a collaborative partner on big global science projects National Space Day: India’s space missions scale new heights.
• Indian astronauts and private citizens are beginning to access human spaceflight in new ways: Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla’s visit to the ISS showed that Indians can both contribute and learn aboard international platforms, an encouraging sign for Gaganyaan and for future human missions National Space Day: India’s space missions scale new heights.

These developments are not just technical milestones; they are social and economic signals. When the state, private industry, academia and startups align — as we saw brought to the table during the National Space Meet 2.0 — the country multiplies its capacity to turn aspiration into application National Space Day being celebrated across the country today.

Why the narrative matters

We do more than launch rockets. The rhetoric around space is shaping how a generation thinks about science, citizenship and possibility. Celebrations streamed on ISRO’s channels and amplified across social media — from governmental accounts to leaders’ reels — create a cultural momentum that feeds schools, startups and civic imagination National Space Day-25, ashwini.vaishnawVerified Instagram Reel, narendramodiVerified Instagram Reel. Even company pages and state leaders join the chorus, showing how space is becoming part of public life (see BEML and local posts) BEML Facebook post, TCEConnect Facebook post.

The future we celebrate — and the futures we must guard

Ambition without guardrails is vanity. I am optimistic, but not naive. Several themes demand our attention if India's space journey is to be both grand and wise:

• Sustainability in space: orbital debris and responsible mission planning are not optional. Initiatives like Debris‑Free Space Missions and Space Situational Awareness must become operational priorities, not just slogans National Space Day: India’s space missions scale new heights.
• Democratic access to benefits: satellites and downstream applications must serve farmers, health systems, disaster responders and everyday citizens. The whole-of-government approach that ISRO is pushing — linking space to agriculture, health and climate resilience — is the right orientation, but execution matters National Space Day being celebrated across the country today.
• Ethical and geopolitical clarity: dual-use capabilities, norms for lunar and planetary exploration, and equitable data-sharing arrangements will shape whether space becomes a theater of cooperation or contention. International partnerships such as LUPEX, TRISHNA and NISAR already point toward collaboration, but the hard work of governance remains National Space Day: India’s space missions scale new heights.
• Education and talent pipelines: inspiring reels and big events are powerful; sustained investments in education, research fellowships and hands-on opportunities for students will convert inspiration into capability.

My conviction

Yes — I do think India is moving in the right direction. The trajectory from Aryabhatta’s calculations to Chandrayaan, from two startups to hundreds, from sounding rockets to ambitions like the Bharatiya Antariksh Station and missions to Venus, shows a maturing ecosystem About National Space Day-2025, India Space Mission: From Bharatiya Antariksh Station To Venus | National Space Day 2025 - YouTube. But maturity is not merely scale; it is the capacity to steward power responsibly.

If we combine technical excellence with robust norms, investment in people, and an insistence that space serves life on Earth as much as it glorifies national pride, then the next decades will be transformational — not just for India’s prestige, but for the material well-being of billions.

I celebrate National Space Day because it is both mirror and map: it reflects how far we've come, and it points to what must be built next. For me, the most moving image is not the rocket in flight but the child who, watching from a village school, decides that mathematics and engineering can be a way of changing the world.

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Regards,
Hemen Parekh