Skyroot’s Vikram-1 rocket lifted off on Saturday, carrying customer payloads and in-orbit experiments on its maiden orbital mission
4-MIN READ4-MIN ListenBiman MukherjiPublished: 12:00pm, 21 Jul 2026India’s first privately developed orbital rocket has given the country’s fledgling commercial space industry a long-sought proof point, but analysts say Skyroot Aerospace must now show it can launch regularly, cheaply and reliably enough to win customers in a crowded global market.Skyroot’s Vikram-1 rocket lifted off on Saturday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, carrying several customer payloads and in-orbit experiments on its maiden orbital mission, called “Mission Aagaman”.
For decades, the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was virtually the only major player in the country’s space sector.
Experts said the launch was significant, but Skyroot still had a long way to go before it could turn a successful test into a commercial business.
