India's Skyroot launches first private orbital rocket, joining US and China in milestone

Liftoff and orbital insertion

On 18 July 2026, Skyroot Aerospace's Vikram-1 rocket launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Sriharikota island, off the coast of Andhra Pradesh in southeastern India. The vehicle, standing about 22 to 23 metres tall, lifted off at 12:05 local time (06:35 UTC) under clear skies. The mission, named "Aagaman" (Hindi for "arrival"), was the first orbital attempt by an Indian private company. After a powered ascent lasting a little over 15 minutes, the rocket reached its intended circular orbit at an altitude of 450 kilometres. Skyroot declared the flight a "grand success" and confirmed that all test objectives were met.

Hello space, we have arrived! Vikram-1's Test Flight-1 has completed its mission. The first-ever Indian private sector launch has been successfully completed.

Payload and test objectives

Vikram-1 is designed to carry payloads of up to 350 kilograms to low Earth orbit. For this inaugural flight, it carried several experimental payloads from Indian and international customers. Among them were a lab-grown diamond and robotic arms capable of removing space debris. The company said the primary goal was to validate the rocket's propulsion, avionics, telemetry and guidance systems in flight, and to gather critical data for future commercial launches. A smaller suborbital rocket, Vikram-S, had flown in 2022, but Vikram-1 is the first orbital-class vehicle from the Hyderabad-based startup.

A third nation joins the private orbital club

With the successful flight, India becomes the third country after the United States and China to have a privately developed rocket reach orbit. The milestone follows the government's 2020 decision to open the space sector to private investment, ending the monopoly of the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). More than 400 space startups have since emerged, according to official figures. The government aims to quintuple India's share of the global space economy from the current 2% to a $44 billion valuation by 2033, the IN-SPACe agency reported. Industry estimates cited by French media put the current domestic space market at around $8 billion, with a target of $40 to $50 billion within the next decade.

Political and industry reaction

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the launch a defining moment for the country's space programme.

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.

Former ISRO chairman K. Sivan welcomed the private sector's entry, noting that mastering a rocket launch requires deep technical capability and that Skyroot's success was especially significant. Skyroot itself said further test flights would take place before moving to routine commercial operations.

India's expanding space ambitions

India has pursued an ambitious space agenda in recent years. It placed a probe around Mars in 2014 and landed the Chandrayaan-3 rover near the lunar south pole in August 2023, becoming only the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon. ISRO now aims to send an astronaut into orbit on an Indian-built spacecraft, possibly as early as 2027, and Modi has set a target of landing an Indian on the Moon by 2040. The Vikram-1 launch is seen as a step toward building a domestic commercial launch industry that can compete for small-satellite contracts globally.