India’s first private rocket Vikram-S sails through in landmark launch

India’s first privately built rocket Vikram-S was successfully launched from the ISRO facility in Sriharikota today, marking the debut of the private sector into the country’s space industry.

“Mission Prarambh is successfully accomplished. Congratulations,” ISRO announced on Twitter.

The rocket carried three payloads built by Andhra Pradesh-based N Space Tech India, Chennai-based startup Space Kids and Armenian BazoomQ Space Research Lab.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh, who was at Sriharikota to witness the historic launch, said that the rocket launch was a turning point for Indian startups.

The ‘Prarambh’ (the beginning) mission and the Vikram-S rocket have been developed by Hyderabad-based startup Skyroot Aerospace with support from ISRO and IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre).

“We made history today by launching India’s first private rocket. It is a symbol of new India, and just the Prarambh of a great future.” Pawan Kumar Chandana, Co-Founder Skyroot Aerospace, said.

The Vikram series of rockets developed by Skyroot is named after Vikram Sarabhai, the founder of the Indian space programme.

The rocket launch demonstrated flight proving of avionics systems in Vikram series like telemetry, Global Positioning System, on-board camera, data acquisition and power systems.