Skyroot Aerospace co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, (CEO) Pawan Kumar Chandana has shared an emotional account of his academic struggles, revealing how his father's unwavering faith helped him overcome setbacks and eventually lead India's first privately developed orbital rocket mission.
His reflections came after Skyroot Aerospace's historic Vikram-1 launch, which marked a major milestone for India's private space sector.
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In a heartfelt post on X, Chandana recalled scoring only 51 marks in Mathematics during his school years and failing another subject. "As everything slowly begins to sink in, and after finally getting some sleep last night, I wanted to share a small personal note," he posted.
"The first call I made after Vikram-1 successfully reached orbit was to my Dad. He is the man who made my journey possible — with dreams for me far bigger than the ones I had for myself, and by simply never giving up on me," he further wrote.
Instead of giving up, Chandana's father enrolled him in IIT-JEE coaching classes, helping him overcome his fear of Mathematics. Through rigorous preparation, his initial struggles gradually turned into a passion for engineering and space science, enabling him to clear the highly competitive IIT-JEE examination on his first attempt, according to the Economic Times.
As everything slowly begins to sink-in, and after finally getting some sleep last night, I wanted to share a small personal note…✍️
— Pawan (@PawanKChandana) July 21, 2026
The first call I made after Vikram-1 successfully reached orbit was to my Dad.
He is the man who made my journey possible—with dreams for me far… pic.twitter.com/RvQVtsoCRr
Chandana went on to pursue a dual BTech-MTech degree in Mechanical Engineering at IIT Kharagpur before joining the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 2012. He spent nearly six years working on several launch vehicle programmes before leaving the government agency to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions.
Recalling his journey, Chandana said, "Until my 8th standard, I was a bad student." He added in an X post, "Back then, I could never have imagined that I would one day make it to an IIT, or have the privilege of contributing to India's first privately developed rocket reaching orbit, making India only the third country in the world to achieve this."
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Reflecting on the emotional phone call he made to his father moments after the mission's success, he wrote, "When I called him after the launch, he just cried. And cried. He couldn't speak a single word. But I understood every word he couldn't say." He admitted, "I managed to hold back my tears when Vikram-1 reached orbit. But somehow, writing this, I can't."
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