NEW DELHI: India’s space startup Skyroot Aerospace completed its first orbital flight on Saturday, making India the third country in the world with a private company capable of such a feat.
The Vikram-1 rocket lifted off at 12.05 p.m. from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, an island off the Bay of Bengal.
The four-stage, seven-story rocket was named after the late Vikram Sarabhai, who pioneered the Indian space program. Designed to carry payloads of up to 350 kg into low-Earth orbit, it managed to deploy its payloads about 16 minutes later.
“Hello space, we have arrived. Vikram-1’s Test Flight-1 has completed its mission. The first-ever Indian private sector launch has been successfully completed,” Skyroot said on X.
Saturday’s orbital flight, dubbed “Mission Aagaman,” which means arrival, is the first in a series of test flights before moving to commercial launches.
