In 1979 the first flight of India’s satellite launch vehicle, SLV-3, failed. Satish Dhawan, chairman of ISRO, “took all the blame,” in Kalam’s words. The next year, SLV-3 succeeded. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the project director, later told students: “again there was a press conference and Prof. Dhawan put me in the front to share the success story with the press.”