On Saturday, July 18th, 2026, India's Skyroot Aerospace achieved a historic milestone by launching Vikram-1, the country's first privately developed orbital rocket. The launch took place at 12:05 pm local time from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

Vikram-1, named after Vikram Sarabhai, the father of India's space program, is a seven-storey rocket capable of carrying payloads up to 350 kilograms into low-Earth orbit. The rocket successfully injected several customer payloads and in-orbit experiments into a 450 km orbit about 15 minutes after lift-off, completing its maiden mission dubbed "Mission Aagaman".

Skyroot Aerospace hailed the launch as a "grand success," with the company stating, "Hello space, we have arrived!" and confirming that "Vikram-1’s Test Flight-1 has completed its mission. The first-ever Indian private sector launch has been successfully completed."

This achievement makes India the third country, after the United States and China, to have a private company capable of orbital launches. Skyroot aims to offer a "cab service to space," allowing companies to hire rockets to place satellites or visit space stations at unique orbital locations.

Pawan Kumar Chandana, Skyroot's co-founder and CEO, emphasized the tribute to India's space pioneers, stating, "We exist because of the Indian space programme, we stand on the shoulders of our early visionaries."

The rocket carried several experimental payloads, including a lab-grown diamond lotus called Cosmic Bloom developed by Cosmos Diamonds and robotic arms designed to remove space debris.

Pawan Goenka, Chairman of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, said the launch went "way beyond expectation for the very first orbital launch ever taken by an Indian private company."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the event as "a defining moment in India's space journey," adding, "The growing participation of our private sector is opening new frontiers and accelerating innovation."

India opened its space sector to private investment in 2020, aiming to increase its share of the global space economy from 2% to 10% by 2030. The success of Vikram-1 is the first of two planned test flights this year before Skyroot moves to routine commercial launches.

Sources