Since ISRO largely remains closed to the world outside, the “ISRO culture” as described by a long-term insider came as a pleasant surprise to me. We may have our conceptions of what it’s like to work at ISRO, but Sandlas writes that the emphasis is on being “really true to oneself and to the organisation...to be totally individualistic—not self-centred, but uninfluenced by collective thoughts.” It is impressive to think that an organisation with so many brilliant minds working together can afford an ‘individualistic’ attitude among its employees — surely that’s been a factor in its success over the years. But Sandlas lets us know that it wasn’t all love and peace — meetings at ISRO were like battles in a war. But they would end in a truce each time before the next contentious issue got leaders butting heads with each other — all in the right spirit.

The chapter on the development of Sriharikota Island as a rocket-launching station is insightful. “The location was identified in March 1968 by Chitnis and U.R. Rao during a visit to Hyderabad... and was finalized after an air survey of the place by Dr Sarabhai in August 1968,” writes Sandlas, as he describes in detail how the island — “basically a jungle and reserve forest of planted eucalyptus and casuarina trees” — looked in those days and how it felt to be there.

The centrepriece of The Leapfroggers, however, is the author’s account of the SLV-3 programme, of which he was a key member. It is this ambition — to develop an indigenous satellite launch vehicle (SLV) — that holds the rest of the book together, but is also where the language sometimes turns technical and the information dry. But between these difficult parts is a story that needs telling. India’s success in satellite launches and space exploration found its start here, in the development of the SLV-3 programme, led by its project director, Abdul Kalam. Sandlas himself had a key to role to play as he was initially “responsible for managing the SLV-3 Project Cell in the Electronics Division... involved in the design of telemetry, tracking and other onboard electronic subsystems” and so, we learn up close about the key SLV programme details, culminating in the early triumph of ISRO’s launch technology with the successful launch of the SLV-3-E-02 on 18 July 1980. This had paved the way for the development of the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV), Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), and the Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV), which are today in common parlance when referring to Indian space missions.

Sandlas explains why that launch was important: “The event signified India’s entry into the exclusive space club of nations with satellite launch vehicle capability; the other five countries were Soviet Union (Sputnik-I launch by Sputnik-PS on 4 October 1957), United States (Explorer-I launch by Juno-I on 31 January 1958), France (Asterix launch by Diamant on 26 November, 1965), Japan (Osumi launch by Lambda 4S on 11 February 1970) and China (Dongfanghong-I launch by Chang Zheng-1 on 24 April 1970).”

India’s SLV development programme kicked on and eventually led to the PSLV and GSLV technology, onboard which many of India’s triumphs have come over the last couple of decades, including the Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan), the lunar exploration mission (Chandrayaan), and the incredible feat recently of launching 104 satellites in a single flight. India is now proceeding to send a three-member crew into space as part of its first human spaceflight programme, Gaganyaan, as well as its second lunar exploration mission (Chandrayaan-2). To appreciate where we have come as a space exploring nation, we have to know how we got here, and The Leapfroggers, though scratchy and tedious in parts, gives us a front-row seat.