ISRO makes history by launching India's first private sector-built launch vehicle, Vikram-S

Bengaluru, November 18, 2022

Vikram-S, a suborbital launch vehicle from Skyroot Aerospace Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad, was successfully launched from the sounding rocket launch complex at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, on Friday morning.

The mission, authorised by the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), marked the first launch of a launch vehicle built by a private company in India.

The launch vehicle, which lifted off at 11.30 am IST, reached an altitude of about 89.5 km in 155 seconds, as planned. This sounding rocket carried three payloads, a press release from Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said.

Union Minister of State Jitendra Singh, who was present at Sriharikota on the occasion, congratulated Skyroot for the accomplishment and thanked ISRO for the able support provided.

He said the mission was made possible by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to open up the space sector to private sector participation and described it as a turning point for India's start-up movement.

He said Vikram-S is a single-stage fuel rocket meant to test most systems and processes in Skyroot Aerospace’s project ahead of the launch of Vikram-1 next year. He said, the rocket goes to the max altitude of 81.5 kilometres and splashes into the sea and the overall duration of launch is about 300 seconds only.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that Skyroot was the first start-up to sign an MoU with ISRO for launching its rockets. He said, apart from being the nation's first private launch, it is also the maiden mission of Skyroot Aerospace, named “Prarambh”.

NNN