Space wrap: Historic Vikram-1 launch puts Indian spaceflight back on track

Bengaluru: Indian spaceflight resumed from Sriharikota this month with a milestone launch for the private sector.

At five minutes past noon on July 18, the launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre roared back to life after a gap of 187 days. The mission marked the maiden orbital flight of Skyroot Aerospace’s Vikram-1 launch vehicle, called ‘Mission Aagaman’.

The last launch from the spaceport was on January 12, 2026 — the PSLV-C62 mission carrying the EOS-N1 earth observation satellite. That mission failed to complete its intended trajectory after an anomaly was detected during the end of the third stage of the launch vehicle.

With Vikram-1’s rollout to the pad on July 18, India returned to orbital launches from Sriharikota and opened a new chapter for privately-built rockets.