INDIAN startup Skyroot Aerospace launches its Vikram-1 rocket from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.—Reuters
SRIHARIKOTA: India’s first privately built orbital rocket took its maiden flight on Saturday, its company said, marking a significant step for the South Asian giant as it eyes a bigger slice of the global space economy.
The Vikram-1 rocket, built by Skyroot Aerospace and designed to carry small satellites into low-Earth orbit, took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota amid loud cheers. “Hello space, we have arrived!” Skyroot Aerospace said in a post on X.
“Vikram-1’s Test Flight-1 has completed its mission. The first ever Indian private sector launch has been successfully completed.” Vikram-1 is about as tall as a seven-storey building and capable of carrying payloads weighing up to 350 kilograms (771 pounds).
Pawan Goenka, chairman of the government’s Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, said the achievement went “way beyond expectation for the very first orbital launch ever taken by an Indian private company”.
