Two things were born on August 15, 1969. The first was the birth of modern-day Rock 'n Roll at the 600-acre Woodstock farm in NY. The second was the Indian space programme as it exists today. Even as guitar-wielding 'space-cadets' were getting ready to perform at the greatest concert of their lives, another quainter and more literal of such groups decided under the leadership of their founder, Vikram Sarabhai, that they shall now call themselves the Indian Space Research Organisation, or ISRO.

In 2017, Rock n Roll might have given way to EDM and Dubstep, but its space-age sibling ISRO seems only set to scale greater heights (quite literally) with each passing year. But while we swell with pride at every historic step forward that ISRO takes, how much do we really know about the 48-year-old history of our beloved space agency and its humble beginnings? As ISRO launched its most powerful rocket, the GSLV Mk III, it only seems apt that we take a walk down memory lane and look back at the eight major milestones in ISRO's 48-year-old history:

1. The time when they worked out of... a church

Unlike the fancy facade that we see today in downtown Bengaluru, ISRO's first office was, in fact, located inside St Mary Magdalene's Church in Thumba, Thiruvananthapuram. Called the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station, or TERLS, scientists including former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam used the church as a lab and the adjoining beach as the launch station for many of ISRO's first missions. In fact, one look at one of the few surviving pictures of the set-up in full glory is enough to emphasise its inherent irony and significance. It's surely a frame that'll make Spanish bishops of the Inquisition days turn in their grave, but also one that'll put a smile on Galileo's long-dead and tired face:

2. The time they launched the first Indian-built satellite, Aryabhatta:

At a time when India topped a United Nations list of the countries that were most affected by the the hike in oil prices and world energy crisis, scientists at ISRO were burning midnight oil to launch Aryabhatta, the first satellite to be made in India. It would still be some time before we had our own rocket that would take a satellite into space but with some help from our friends in the Soviet Union, Aryabhatta was flown out in a Kosmos-3M launch vehicle from a base in USSR.

3. The time when they built a satellite launch vehicle

Building a launch vehicle was obviously the next big step for ISRO. And so in 1980, thanks to ISRO, India joined the very small list of countries to have indigenously launched a satellite-carrying rocket into space. The SLV-3 became the first full-fledged successful launch vehicle and Rohini was the satellite that it carried.

4) That time they didn't let failure discourage them.

ISRO's workhorse, the Polar Satellite Launching Vehicle or PSLV, was first launched in September 1993 in a mission that proved to be a partial failure. But despite the bad start, the PSLV went on to become ISRO's most-successful rocket ever. With 38 launches so far and just two failures (one-and-a-half to be precise, since the first one was technically a partial failure), the PSLV has been doing all the hard work for India's communication and space technology. In fact, the PSLV continues to remain active and despite the presence of the newly-launched GSLV Mk III, variants of the PSLV continue to be ISRO's preferred vehicles for most complex missions.

5. The time they took India to the moon...

On October 22, 2008, ISRO took its ambitions to new heights and launched its first mission to the moon - Chandrayaan 1. This was also the first mission that put ISRO on the global map. The mission, which included a satellite probe and an impactor, reached lunar orbit on November 8 and remained functional till 28 August 2009, which was when the mission was officially closed. Interestingly, nearly seven years later, NASA used advanced radar technology to detect that the Chandrayaan was still in the lunar orbit as late as 2016.

6. And then to Mars

From here on, little introduction is required to ISRO's exploits as the space agency had finally joined the big league. The Mars Orbiter Mission or Mangalyaan was truly the inflection point in ISRO's history and has since been hailed the world over for its success and frugal engineering. Launched on November 5, 2013 and reaching Mars orbit on September 24, 2014, the MOM made India the first country in the world to reach Mars in its very first attempt and also only the fourth country to reach the Red Planet. The MOM took a record nine months to do so, but did in a budget that is now popular for being less than that of the George Clooney, Sandra Bullock-starrer, Gravity.

7. That time when they launched 104 satellites in one go

Just this year, ISRO decided to launch a breathtaking 104 satellites into space... using just one rocket... because why the hell not?! The mission, which included satellites from dozens of countries, including the US, made ISRO a household name across the world and in the space community. The launch was significant since it also showed just how far India had come from the time when we had to piggyback on a USSR launch vehicle.

8. And finally, when they launched their heaviest rocket

It was graduation day for ISRO. With the recent launch of the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III, ISRO has finally entered the club of the boys with the big guns. More impressively, the GSLV Mk III launch saw ISRO successfully test its first indigenous cryogenic upper stage booster engine - a technology that's as exclusive as it comes. With a payload capacity of 4,000 kg, the GSLV Mk III marks ISRO's first step towards making the Indian dream of sending manned missions to space a reality pretty soon.

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