The next big break in his life came when Dr. Kalam was made the manager of India’s Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) project. Being nominated as Project Leader was both an honor and a challenge. The main objective of the SLV-3 project was to develop a reliable launch vehicle that could place a forty kilogram satellite into an orbit 400 kilometers above the Earth. A major task in this was the development of a rocket motor system for the four stages of the vehicle. An 8.5 ton propellant grain was to be manufactured for use in a rocket motor system capable of using high energy propellants. Another function was control and guidance. It was a large project consisting of two hundred and fifty sub-parts and forty major sub-systems. Coordinating all the activities and leading the team efficiently was a challenge for Dr. Kalam. Finally, after a lot of hard work, on July 18, 1980, at 8.03 am, SLV-3 successfully took off from the Sriharikota rocket launch center. The success of this project gave national recognition to Dr. Kalam. For this achievement, he was awarded ‘Padma Bhushan’ by the Government of India on 26 January 1981.
In those days, the Defense Research and Development Laboratory needed such a leadership who could speed up the work and speed up the development of missiles. Pro. Raja Ramanna proposed to Dr. Kalam to take over the Guided Missile Development Program. Dr. Kalam gladly accepted this challenging proposal. In February 1982, Dr. Kalam was appointed Director of DRDL. At the same time Anna University, Madras honored him with the standard degree of ‘Doctor of Science’. This honorary degree was received by Dr. Kalam almost twenty years after obtaining a degree in aeronautical engineering. Dr. Kalam, the then Scientific Advisor to the Defense Minister, Dr. V.S. Prepared the proposal of Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP) under the guidance of Arunachalam. A committee was formed under the chairmanship of Dr. Kalam with the aim of preparing a clear and well-defined missile program for the development of indigenous missiles.