Skyroot Aerospace Vikram-1 becomes first Indian private rocket to reach orbit, breaking ISRO monopoly
India's launch monopoly just ended. Skyroot Aerospace's Vikram-1 reached a 450 km low Earth orbit on July 18, the first commercial Indian rocket to make orbit and to break ISRO's exclusive hold on Indian orbital launch. Liftoff came from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
India's monopoly on orbital launch has been broken by a private company for the first time. On July 18, Skyroot Aerospace's Vikram-1 rocket lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre and placed its upper stage into a planned 450 km low Earth orbit about 15 minutes later, making it the first commercial Indian rocket to reach orbit. The flight was not without tension. Liftoff slipped by 35 minutes after engineers flagged a technical issue at the T-minus-5-minute point in the countdown, a reminder of how narrow the margins are on a maiden flight. Until now, every Indian payload reaching orbit had done so on a rocket built by the state agency ISRO. Vikram-1 changes that, giving India a homegrown private launch option alongside the handful of countries whose commercial firms can independently reach orbit. For a domestic space sector that has leaned heavily on government infrastructure, a working private launcher opens the door to faster, cheaper access to space for satellite operators and startups that would otherwise wait in ISRO's queue.