{"id":129625,"date":"2026-07-18T19:07:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T14:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=129625"},"modified":"2026-07-18T19:07:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T14:07:33","slug":"indias-skyroot-launches-vikram-1-in-first-private-orbital-rocket-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/","title":{"rendered":"India&#8217;s Skyroot launches Vikram-1 in first private orbital rocket mission"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Web desk(National Times)- Indian space startup Skyroot Aerospace on Saturday launched the country\u2019s first privately developed orbital rocket, a key test of national efforts to compete for a bigger share of the global commercial launch market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Vikram-1 rocket lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 0635 GMT, leaving behind a plume of fire and smoke, carrying several customer payloads and in-orbit experiments on its maiden orbital mission, dubbed \u201cMission Aagaman\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It successfully injected its payload into a 450 kilometres orbit about 15 minutes later, making India the third country to achieve orbital launch capability through private enterprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The launch, which was initially planned to take off at 0600 am GMT, was put on hold temporarily, before it was rescheduled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The mission is intended to validate the rocket\u2019s propulsion, avionics, telemetry, guidance, navigation and control systems in flight while collecting data for future commercial launches, Skyroot said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMission Aagaman is a grand success,\u201d the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is a test flight. We will be doing a few of these before we move into routine commercial flights,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Founded in 2018, Skyroot is among a new generation of Indian space startups that have attracted backing from global investors following the sector\u2019s liberalisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It became the first space-sector company in the country to hit a $1 billion valuation earlier in the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Indian mission comes amid intensifying competition in the global small satellite launch market, where startups are seeking to&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hindustantimes.com\/world-news\/emboldened-by-spacex-investors-are-piling-into-all-things-space-101781507757293.html\">challenge&nbsp;<\/a>incumbents led by Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Governments across Europe and Asia have also stepped up support for domestic launch companies to secure independent access to space as commercial and defence demand accelerates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Standing about 22 metres tall, Vikram-1 is designed to carry payloads of up to 350 kg into low-Earth orbit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The launch vehicle uses three solid-fuel stages and a liquid-fuel orbital adjustment module powered by a 3D-printed engine, technologies the company says are being flown for the first time in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The rocket is carrying several experimental and customer payloads from Indian and overseas organisations, including technology demonstration satellites and in-orbit experiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The launch follows the Hyderabad-based company\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1721630\">Vikram-S mission&nbsp;<\/a>in 2022, which became the first privately developed rocket to reach space from Indian soil on a suborbital flight India opened its space sector to private investment in 2020, allowing startups to build rockets, satellites and launch services, activities that were for decades provided by the government\u2019s Indian Space Research Organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The government aims to increase India\u2019s share of the global space economy to $44 billion by 2033 from about $8bn currently, betting that private companies can help it compete in a market dominated by players in the United States, Europe and China.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Web desk(National Times)- Indian space startup Skyroot Aerospace on Saturday launched the country\u2019s first privately developed orbital rocket, a key test of national efforts to compete for a bigger share of the global commercial launch market. The Vikram-1 rocket lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 0635 GMT, leaving behind a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>India&#039;s Skyroot launches Vikram-1 in first private orbital rocket mission - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"India&#039;s Skyroot launches Vikram-1 in first private orbital rocket mission - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Web desk(National Times)- Indian space startup Skyroot Aerospace on Saturday launched the country\u2019s first privately developed orbital rocket, a key test of national efforts to compete for a bigger share of the global commercial launch market. The Vikram-1 rocket lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 0635 GMT, leaving behind a [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-18T14:07:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-18T14:07:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-7-23.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/\",\"name\":\"India's Skyroot launches Vikram-1 in first private orbital rocket mission - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-7-23.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-18T14:07:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-18T14:07:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-7-23.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-7-23.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"India&#8217;s Skyroot launches Vikram-1 in first private orbital rocket mission\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"India's Skyroot launches Vikram-1 in first private orbital rocket mission - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"India's Skyroot launches Vikram-1 in first private orbital rocket mission - Nation","og_description":"Web desk(National Times)- Indian space startup Skyroot Aerospace on Saturday launched the country\u2019s first privately developed orbital rocket, a key test of national efforts to compete for a bigger share of the global commercial launch market. The Vikram-1 rocket lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 0635 GMT, leaving behind a [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/","og_site_name":"Nation","article_published_time":"2026-07-18T14:07:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-18T14:07:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":670,"height":370,"url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-7-23.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"humza Jahangir","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"humza Jahangir","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/","url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/","name":"India's Skyroot launches Vikram-1 in first private orbital rocket mission - Nation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-7-23.png","datePublished":"2026-07-18T14:07:30+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-18T14:07:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-7-23.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-7-23.png","width":670,"height":370},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129625\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"India&#8217;s Skyroot launches Vikram-1 in first private orbital rocket mission"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/","name":"Nation","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16","name":"humza Jahangir","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"humza Jahangir"},"url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129627,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129625\/revisions\/129627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}