“Saare Jahan Se Achha”: When an Indian Fighter Pilot Became the Nation’s Ambassador to the Stars

On April 3, 1984, because the Soyuz T-11 rocket pierced thru Earth’s atmosphere carrying Squadron Chief Rakesh Sharma toward the Salyut 7 space space, it wasn’t factual launching one man into orbit—it was as soon as catapulting a complete nation’s needs into the cosmic enviornment. What followed over the next seven days, 21 hours, and 40 minutes would change into one of essentially the most phenomenal chapters in India’s quest to assign itself as an area-faring civilization.

Born in Patiala, Punjab, on January 13, 1949, Sharma’s scoot to the stars started no longer in laboratories or observatories, but in the cockpit of MiG-21 fighter jets in the middle of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation Conflict. Flying 21 wrestle missions sooner than his 23rd birthday, he embodied the dauntless spirit that would later create him the genuine candidate for humanity’s final frontier. When the chance arose in 1982 to take part in a joint Indo-Soviet space mission, Sharma volunteered with out hesitation—a call that would transform him from a decorated Air Force pilot into India’s first cosmic ambassador.

The preference direction of was as soon as grueling. From 150 extremely licensed IAF pilots, best two were chosen as cosmonaut candidates. Sharma’s preference led him to the popular Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Coaching Heart advance Moscow, where he spent two years mastering Russian, adapting to freezing temperatures, following a rigorous 3,200-calorie weight loss program, and undergoing Olympic-stage physical coaching. Maybe most tellingly, he persevered a 72-hour claustrophobia take a look at—locked alone in a room to simulate the psychological pressures of space confinement.

But it was as soon as the mission itself that in actuality showcased India’s ingenuity and cultural pride. Because the 128th human to scoot to space, Sharma didn’t factual carry scientific devices aboard Salyut 7—he carried the essence of India. The Defence Meals Compare Lab in Mysore had ready a sure space menu: aloo chhole, suji halwa, and vegetable pulao, which he generously shared with his Soviet crewmates Yury Malyshev and Gennady Strekalov. In an generation sooner than globalization, this straightforward act of culinary diplomacy launched legit Indian flavors to the cosmos.

The scientific agenda was as soon as ambitious and diverse. Over 43 experimental classes, Sharma carried out groundbreaking analysis in biomedicine and a long way off sensing. One namely bright experiment eager finding out yoga’s effects on the human physique in microgravity—a best fusion of broken-down Indian wisdom with reducing-edge space science. His pictures of India from space saved the nation approximately two years’ price of aerial mapping work, demonstrating how space exploration may yield instantaneous shining advantages.

Yet it was as soon as a spontaneous moment of patriotic eloquence that would clarify Sharma’s legacy with no fracture in sight. At some level of a joint television convention linking space with Earth, High Minister Indira Gandhi posed a straight forward demand: “How does India gape from space?” Without lacking a beat, Sharma spoke back with three phrases that would echo thru generations: “Saare Jahan Se Achha”—better than your complete world. This phrase, borrowed from Allama Iqbal’s immortal patriotic poem, encapsulated no longer factual nationwide pride however the profound emotional impression of seeing one’s space of origin from the cosmic level of view.

The space space itself represented the reducing fringe of 1980s space technology. Salyut 7 was as soon as a modest facility by on the sleek time’s standards—measuring 14.4 meters in length with a most diameter of 4.15 meters and offering factual 100 cubic meters of habitable space. Weighing 18,900 kilograms (about 19 plenty), it orbited Earth at altitudes between 279-284 kilometers with an orbital inclination of 51.6 levels. To assign aside this in level of view, on the sleek time’s Worldwide Space Station dwarfs Salyut 7—stretching 109 meters discontinuance-to-discontinuance (almost 2.5 instances the length of an American football field) with 13,696 cubic toes of habitable volume and weighing 419,725 kilograms (over 20 instances heavier than Salyut 7). The ISS orbits at a increased altitude of 370-460 kilometers, making it a long way more stable and visible from Earth.

Yet what Salyut 7 lacked in measurement, it compensated for in pioneering spirit. The space featured two docking ports, three solar panels, electrical stoves, a refrigerator, fixed sizzling water, and even specialised portholes designed to enable ultraviolet light in to assist murder infections. At some level of its operational life from 1982 to 1991, it hosted 22 cosmonauts from 10 varied crews, conducting the entirety from metallurgy experiments to gargantuan observations. Remarkably, the distance survived even being “ineffective” for months—in 1985, it utterly misplaced energy and tumbled out of control until a dauntless rescue mission by cosmonauts Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Viktor Savinykh introduced it again to life.

Salyut 7 just isn't any longer there. After serving a long way beyond its supposed lifespan, the distance met a dramatic discontinuance on February 7, 1991, when it made an uncontrolled reentry over Argentina. No subject Soviet attempts to manual its descent into the Atlantic Ocean, the 88,000-pound space broke aside in the atmosphere, showering metal fragments over the city of Capitán Bermúdez advance Buenos Aires. Residents watched in fear as radiant trails streaked all over their sky—a spectacular finale for an area that had pushed the boundaries of human space exploration. Sharma’s mission was as soon as a part of this mighty legacy of world cooperation that would at remaining evolve into on the sleek time’s multinational ISS program.

The mission’s success elevated India to alter into the 14th nation to ship a human into space, but more importantly, it planted the seeds of an area-age nationwide consciousness. When Sharma and his crew landed in Kazakhstan on April 11, 1984, they returned no longer factual as profitable astronauts but as harbingers of India’s cosmic ambitions. The Soviet Union honored Sharma with the Hero of the Soviet Union award—making him the genuine Indian to receive this distinction—whereas India conferred its best seemingly peacetime gallantry award, the Ashoka Chakra, on all three crew members.

The ripple effects of these eight days proceed to resonate on the sleek time. Sharma’s mission proved that space exploration wasn’t the queer domain of superpowers; it demonstrated that increasing nations with imaginative and prescient, option, and global cooperation may attain for the stars. His scoot paved the capability for India’s indigenous space program, which on the sleek time launches satellites for dozens of countries and prepares for its hang Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission.

After retiring as Fly Commander, Sharma continued serving India’s aerospace ambitions as Chief Take a look at Pilot at Hindustan Aeronautics Restricted until 2001. This day, at 76, he lives peacefully in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu, spending his days gardening, reading, and training the same yoga he as soon as examined in zero gravity. Yet he remains connected to India’s space future as a member of the Nationwide Space Advisory Council for the Gaganyaan mission.

As India prepares to ship Shubhanshu Shukla as its 2nd citizen to space on Eighth June 2025, Rakesh Sharma’s pioneering scoot serves as each inspiration and roadmap. His mission proved that space exploration is in the fracture about human curiosity, global cooperation, and the valorous belief that geographical boundaries—even Earth itself—need no longer limit human potential.

In an age where non-public corporations robotically commence tourists into space and Mars missions take hang of global creativeness, it’s price remembering that India’s space tale started with one man’s eight-day scoot, a handful of carefully packed Indian meals, and three phrases that reminded the sector that patriotism, when mixed with scientific success, can indeed create any nation seem “Saare Jahan Se Achha”—better than your complete world?