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Timeline · India · 14 events

India in space: from Thumba to the Moon

Six decades of the Indian space programme — from a borrowed sounding rocket fired from a church in a fishing village to a soft landing near the Moon’s south pole.

  1. 21 Nov 1963
    India’s first rocket launch

    A US-made Nike-Apache sounding rocket lifts off from Thumba, near Thiruvananthapuram.

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  2. 15 Aug 1969
    ISRO is formed

    The Indian Space Research Organisation takes over from INCOSPAR, set up under Vikram Sarabhai in 1962.

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  3. 19 Apr 1975
    Aryabhata, India’s first satellite

    Built in India and launched on a Soviet rocket.

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  4. 18 Jul 1980
    Launched on an Indian rocket

    SLV-3 places the Rohini satellite in orbit — India can now reach orbit on its own.

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  5. 3 Apr 1984
    Rakesh Sharma flies to space

    The first Indian in space spends nearly eight days aboard the Soviet Salyut 7 station.

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  6. 15 Oct 1994
    PSLV’s first successful flight

    The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle becomes ISRO’s workhorse rocket.

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  7. 22 Oct 2008
    Chandrayaan-1 goes to the Moon

    Its instruments help confirm water molecules on the lunar surface.

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  8. 24 Sep 2014
    Mangalyaan reaches Mars

    Launched on 5 November 2013, the Mars Orbiter Mission enters orbit on India’s first attempt.

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  9. 15 Feb 2017
    104 satellites in one launch

    PSLV-C37 sets a record for the most satellites deployed by a single rocket at the time.

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  10. 7 Sep 2019
    Chandrayaan-2’s lander is lost

    The Vikram lander crashes during descent; the orbiter keeps working.

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  11. 23 Aug 2023
    Chandrayaan-3 lands near the south pole

    India becomes the first country to land near the Moon’s south polar region. The day is now National Space Day.

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  12. 2 Sep 2023
    Aditya-L1 heads for the Sun

    India’s first solar observatory reaches its halo orbit around the L1 point on 6 January 2024.

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  13. 16 Jan 2025
    Docking in orbit

    The two SpaDeX satellites dock, making India the fourth country to demonstrate docking in space.

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  14. 26 Jun 2025
    An Indian astronaut aboard the ISS

    Shubhanshu Shukla reaches the International Space Station on Axiom Mission 4, launched the previous day.

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Sources

  1. ISRO — Missions
  2. Wikipedia — Indian Space Research Organisation
  3. NASA — Axiom Mission 4