India’s space story is on the cusp of a historic milestone. For decades, access to space was the exclusive domain of national space agencies backed by governments and vast public resources. If all goes well on July 18 at 11.30 am, Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace hopes to join a small and elite group of global companies that have successfully developed and launched orbital rockets.
If all goes according to plan, Skyroot’s Vikram-1 rocket will become the first privately developed Indian rocket to attempt an orbital mission, marking a defining moment not just for the company but also for India’s rapidly emerging private space sector.
As Vikram-1 towers on the launch pad at Sriharikota, Skyroot Aerospace CEO and co-founder Pawan Chandana reflected on a journey that began with a handful of engineers and a bold dream.
“Years of effort by amazing people brought us here. We are soon going to lift off India’s first private orbital rocket, Vikram-1, named after Dr. Vikram Sarabhai,” Chandana told NDTV.
Named after the father of India’s space programme, Vikram Sarabhai, the Vikram-1 vehicle represents the next step in Skyroot’s ambitions after the company’s successful Vikram-S suborbital mission in November 2022. That launch, called Prarambh, made Skyroot the first private Indian company to launch a rocket and demonstrated that India’s startup ecosystem could build credible launch vehicles.
