New Delhi, Feb. 2 -- A Personal History, the book I co-wrote with my husband, R. Aravamudan-one of the first to join India's fledgling space programme in 1962-he described the excitement and anxiety that preceded the first-ever launch from Sriharikota on 10 August 1979. "By the second half of the 1970s we were on a high," he wrote, "we were getting ready to launch SLV3 our first homegrown launch vehicle."

They were not a battle-hardened team of professionals with scores of successful rocket and satellite launches behind them. "But we were young, highly motivated and hardworking. None us had been part of an actual satellite launch, and now we were thirsting to realise our pre-flight dreams," he recalled.

They were not put off by the scep...