The Nehru Science Centre in Mumbai has launched a fascinating new exhibition titled From Ancient Skies to Modern Horizons: Exhibition on Space Heritage in India, which explores the country’s rich history of astronomy and its remarkable progress in space exploration.    

Inaugurated by astrophysicist and former professor M. N. Vahia of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the exhibition traces India’s long relationship with the skies, from the mathematical brilliance of Aryabhata and Bhaskara II to the Kerala School of Astronomy, and on to ISRO’s modern-day milestones. “India’s journey to the stars did not begin with modern rockets; it began with the deep-rooted curiosity of our ancestors,” Vahia said, underlining the connection between ancient observations and present-day missions.

The show takes visitors through centuries of astronomical innovation, highlighting the tools, calendars, and cosmological models developed long before the telescope was invented. It then shifts to the birth of India’s space programme, from the first rocket launch at Thumba and the launch of the Aryabhata satellite to recent triumphs like the Mars Orbiter Mission and Chandrayaan-3.