India entered a new era in space exploration on Saturday as Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace successfully launched Vikram-1, the country’s first privately developed orbital launch vehicle, placing six payloads, including two satellites, into a 450-km low-Earth orbit.
The landmark Mission Aagaman, launched from the First Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (an elite group of nations with private orbital launch capability.
Skyroot Aerospace announced the success on X, saying, “Vikram-1 Test Flight-1 has reached orbit. India’s first privately developed orbital rocket has completed its final burn and injected its payloads into a 450 SDSC-SHAR), Sriharikota, marks the first time an Indian private company has independently designed, built and successfully launched an orbital-class rocket. With the achievement, India joins -km orbit, making India the third country in the world with private orbital launch capability.”
PM Modi congratulates Skyroot Aerospace team
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to the team of Skyroot Aerospace and congratulated them on the successful launch of Vikram-1. Modi remarked that this is a defining moment in India’s space journey. The growing participation of our private sector is opening new frontiers and accelerating innovation. “This achievement will encourage countless youngsters to dream bigger and innovate fearlessly”,Modi stated .
Milestone for India’s space reforms
The successful mission is widely seen as the biggest validation yet of India’s space sector reforms, which opened the country’s space ecosystem to private participation.
Congratulating the Skyroot team, ISRO said the launch marked a significant milestone for India’s private space sector.
“Congratulations to the entire Skyroot Aerospace Team on the successful launch of Vikram-1 (Mission Aagaman) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. The mission reflects the growing capability of India’s space ecosystem,” ISRO said in a post on X.
The space agency also acknowledged the role of IN-SPACe and ISRO teams in enabling the launch through technical consultancy, ground testing and round-the-clock safety surveillance, adding that the achievement was a testament to the space sector reforms envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
IN-SPACe calls it a defining moment
IN-SPACe Chairman Pawan Goenka hailed the successful mission as a watershed moment for India’s commercial space ecosystem, saying it validates the country’s regulatory reforms and demonstrates that Indian private companies are now capable of delivering globally competitive launch services. The success, he said, would accelerate investments, innovation and commercial opportunities in the sector.
From Sriharikota to orbit
The launch was carried out from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, India’s principal spaceport on the Andhra Pradesh coast.
The 22-metre-tall, four-stage Vikram-1 rocket, built using lightweight carbon-composite structures and indigenous propulsion technologies, lifted off from the historic First Launch Pad before executing a series of precisely timed stage separations and burns.
Its final orbital adjustment manoeuvre successfully deployed six payloads into a 450-km circular orbit with a 60-degree inclination, validating the vehicle’s propulsion, avionics, navigation and guidance systems. The launch also demonstrated Skyroot’s ability to offer rapid and on-demand launch services for small satellites.
It is the beginning
Skyroot Aerospace Co-founder & CEO Pawan Kumar Chandana said: “We are immensely proud to stand here today. Vikram-1 reached its designated orbit and deployed our own SCOPE satellite, Grahaa Space’s Solaras satellite, and other in orbit experiments making Skyroot the first private company to take a rocket to orbit on its very first flight. What the world witnessed today is the result of years of work by our team, our partners and suppliers across the country. It proves that India has the talent, the technology and the industrial strength to build launch vehicles that meet the world's standards and to serve the world from here. Our mission has always been to open space for all. Today we opened that door a little wider. This is not the destination. It is the beginning. From here, we leap.”
A new chapter for India’s space economy
Founded in Hyderabad, Skyroot Aerospace had earlier become the first Indian private company to launch a rocket into space with the sub-orbital Vikram-S mission in 2022.
The success of Vikram-1 now represents a much larger leap, positioning India as an emerging global hub for commercial satellite launches and strengthening the country’s ambitions to build a vibrant private space economy.
For India’s fast-growing space startup ecosystem, Saturday’s launch is expected to become a defining moment, demonstrating that homegrown private companies can not only build world-class launch vehicles but also compete in the rapidly expanding global space market.