India’s forgotten rocket pioneer
A new book provides a detailed account of the life and work of Stephen H Smith. During 1934 and 1944 in Calcutta, he worked alone and unsupported on developing rocket transport. In 1935, he was the first to demonstrate the successful transport by a rocket of livestock, food and medicine. The book charts the story of Stephen H Smith, described by a contemporary as “the greatest one-man campaign for rocketry”. He dedicated his life working alone in northeast India to develop a new revolutionary means of transport using rocket power.
Gurbir Singh is a UK based space writer. His professional background is in the IT sector as a Senior Cyber Security Consultant for a large IT company. He studied science and computing and holds a science and an arts degree. Once keen on aviation, he has a private pilot’s licence for the UK, USA and Australia. He was one of 13,000 unsuccessful applicants responding to the 1989 advert in the UK “Astronaut wanted. No experience necessary” to become the first British astronaut, for which Helen Sharman was eventually selected and flew on the Soviet space station MIR in 1991
In 2011, Gurbir published his first book, Yuri Gagarin in London and Manchester. The book traces the visit of the world’s first spaceman’s visit to England with first-hand accounts from the people who saw and met him. His second book, The Indian Space Programme published in October 2017, is a detailed (600+pages) and illustrated account of India’s space programme, its current capabilities, and achievements and future ambitions.
His new book “Stephen H Smith” India’s forgotten Rocket Mail Pioneer will be available from March 2019.
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