Pakistan entered the Space Age, ahead of all Islamic, in fact, all developing countries, on 7th June 1962 with a bang, when its first two-stage rocket named REHBAR -1 rose up into the night sky over the Baluchistan Coast, rising to a height of 80 miles, releasing an orange trail of sodium vapour lit up by the rays of the setting sun which could be seen from Karachi and hundreds of miles along the coast of Pakistan. The following is a personal perspective written by Tariq Mustafa, now Federal Secretary (R) who led the team which established Pakistan's first rocket range at Sonmiani in Baluchistan in 1962, followed by the subsequent construction of Suparco's Rocket Plant for the indigenous manufacture of such rockets and their propellants in 1967.
