India’s first privately developed rocket reached orbit in a spectacular launch

Indian officials celebrated the flight of Skyroot Aerospace’s Vikram-1 rocket, India’s first satellite launch, as a “success” on Saturday after soaring 280 kilometers from the Bay of Bengal island.

Vikram-1 lifted off from India’s main port on the island of Sriharikota at 1:35 a.m. EDT (06:35 UTC) on Saturday, an afternoon at the launch site on India’s southeast coast. The launch was delayed more than half an hour to resolve a last-minute technical issue. The countdown resumed, culminating in the order to launch the Vikram-1 solid booster first stage to guide the rocket away from launch.

Vikram-1 is a bit smaller compared to the big Indian horseshoe crabs. The Skyroot rocket is about 72 feet (22 meters) tall and can place payloads of up to 770 pounds (350 kilograms) into low Earth orbit. This makes Vikram-1 larger than the Electron launch vehicle developed by Rocket Lab, the world’s most successful satellite launcher.

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