Bengaluru’s ISTRAC celebrates 50 years of tracking India’s space dreams, from Aryabhata to Chandrayaan and beyond, unveiling a new website and commemorative coffee table book.
Bengaluru witnessed a landmark moment as the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) began its Golden Jubilee celebrations on September 10, marking 50 years of relentless service to India’s space program. Established on September 6, 1976, ISTRAC has been the “silent backbone” of India’s space journey, providing critical ground support for Earth observation, interplanetary exploration, space science missions, and launch vehicle operations.
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Inaugurating the celebrations, ISRO Chairman V Narayanan praised ISTRAC’s dedication and innovation, crediting it with the flawless execution of complex missions, from Aryabhata to Chandrayaan and the Mars Orbiter Mission. He also highlighted its pivotal role in upcoming milestones, including India’s ambitious Gaganyaan human spaceflight program, the SpaDeX docking experiment, and the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission.
To mark the occasion, ISTRAC unveiled its Golden Jubilee logo, released a specially curated coffee table book chronicling five decades of achievements, and launched its new website, aptly named “Spandan.” The network continues to operate ground stations across India and abroad, managing deep space tracking and space situational awareness, ensuring mission success for both ISRO and NewSpace India Limited’s commercial ventures.
With its golden milestone celebrated, ISTRAC looks ahead to powering India’s next leap into human spaceflight and beyond.
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