Even before independence, in Bombay the foundations of a space and nuclear program were being established indigenously. By 1984, India was invited to send a test pilot to the Soviet Salyut 7 space station and becoming a hero of the Soviet Union and India. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This stamp shows the Salyut 7 space station in Earth orbit. From the number of worldwide stamp issues it was easy to see how much excitement was generated worldwide by the American and Soviet space program. This was a step beyond that as an Indian was a full participant in the dangerous mission, and this was a marker of how far India had come in this technological frontier.
Todays stamp is issue, A662, a 3 Rupee stamp issued by India on April 3rd 1984. It was a single stamp issue marking the Soyuz T-11 mission to the Salyut 7 space station. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 85 cents used.
The foundations of a Indian space program were being set even before independence. Cambridge trained physicist Homi Bhadha obtained private funding from industrialist J.R.D. Tata to form a research institute in Bombay in 1945. In the early 1960s the government got into the act by transforming the efforts into the Indian Space and Research Agency. Progress was swift. In 1974, the first Indian made satellite was in orbit and by 1980 India was able to start using their own design of launch rocket. This technology placed India in a small club of nations. Today the space program continues with moon and now even Mars orbiters conducting scientific research.
Seeing this progress and wanting close relations with the leader of the non-aligned movement, the Soviet Union invited India to participate in a mission to the space station. Indian Air Force Squadron leader Rekesh Sharma won the unique assignment. He had been a pilot of Indian examples of the Soviet Mig 21, that has been a staple of the Indian Air Force since the early 1960s when it was chosen over more expensive British Lightning fighter. Sharma trained for space and learned to speak Russian. He would be a science officer on the space station. One of his experiments was to see if yoga would lessen the detrimental effects of extended time in space. Sharma spent 7 days in space. The danger faced is pointed out by the next Soyuz mission to the space station. The station had degraded since the previous mission and that crew had to perform a very dangerous manual docking. Sharma was named a Hero of the Soviet Union and the Indian Ashok Chakra medal. He retired from the air force as a wing commander and is still alive.
America sent two Indian American women to space as astronauts as part of the space shuttle program. One of them, India born Kalpana Chawla lost her life in 2003 when the space shuttle Columbia burned up on reentry from space.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another for all those who dangerously voyage to space to further mankind’s knowledge. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.