Chandrayaan 4

On a humid morning in Sriharikota earlier this year, Dr. V. Narayanan stepped onto the dais with the calm precision of a man who has spent his life around rockets. Known for his mastery of cryogenic engines, Narayanan had just taken over as Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). His message was neither cautious nor bureaucratic, it was bold. India, he declared, must aim not just for launches and landings, but for human spaceflight, lunar sample returns, and even its own space station.