Skyroot Aerospace Creates History with India’s First Private Orbital Rocket Launch Vikram-1
With the successful launch of Vikram-1, India became the third country after the US and China to achieve private-sector orbital launch capability.
India has achieved a historic milestone as Skyroot Aerospace successfully launched Vikram-1, the country’s first privately developed orbital-class rocket, from ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-SHAR), Sriharikota, under Mission Aagaman.
The successful maiden orbital mission marks India’s entry into a select group of nations where private companies have independently designed, built, and launched orbital rockets. According to Skyroot, India is now the 3rd country after the United States and China to achieve private-sector orbital launch capability.
The 22-metre-tall Vikram-1 launch vehicle successfully deployed multiple payloads into a 450-kilometre Low Earth Orbit (LEO) roughly 15 minutes after liftoff. The mission carried a mix of commercial, technology demonstration, and experimental payloads, including Skyroot’s SCOPE CubeSat, Grahaa Space’s SOLARAS S3 satellite, Cosmoserve Space’s EMBRACE robotic debris-capture demonstration payload, and a technology demonstration payload from Germany-based DCUBED, highlighting the growing commercial capabilities of India’s private space ecosystem.
Founded in 2018 by former ISRO engineers Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace was India’s first private space startup to successfully launch a rocket with the Vikram-S suborbital mission in 2022. Since then, the company has emerged as one of India’s leading spacetech startups, raising more than $95 million from investors including Temasek, GIC, Singapore-based World Fund, Greenko Group founders, Sherpalo Ventures, and others to build indigenous launch vehicle technologies.
Designed to launch small satellites weighing up to 350 kilograms into Low Earth Orbit, Vikram-1 features an all-carbon composite structure, three solid-propellant stages, and an Orbital Adjustment Module (OAM) powered by a restartable 3D-printed liquid engine for precise orbital insertion. The rocket represents years of indigenous research and engineering while demonstrating India’s growing capabilities in advanced launch vehicle technologies.
The mission also highlights the growing collaboration between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), IN-SPACe, and private space companies following the landmark reforms introduced in 2020 that opened India’s space sector to private participation. Since then, startups have expanded across launch vehicles, satellite manufacturing, propulsion systems, earth observation, space infrastructure, and downstream applications, significantly strengthening India’s commercial space ecosystem.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Skyroot Aerospace team after the successful launch, describing it as a “defining moment in India’s space journey.” He said the growing participation of the private sector is opening new frontiers and accelerating innovation, adding that the achievement would inspire countless young Indians to dream bigger and innovate fearlessly.
The successful launch comes at a time when global demand for dedicated small-satellite launch services continues to rise, driven by the rapid expansion of Earth observation, communications, defence, and IoT satellite constellations. With Vikram-1’s successful debut, Skyroot Aerospace joins a new generation of commercial launch providers seeking to capture a share of the rapidly growing global launch market while reinforcing India’s ambition to become a leading global space economy.