Tag: India
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India reveals that it has returned lunar spacecraft to Earth orbit
A little more than three months ago the Indian space agency, ISRO, achieved a major success by putting its Vikram lander safely down on the surface of the Moon. In doing so India became the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, and this further ignited the country’s interest in space exploration.…
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Rocket Report: China launches 3-man crew; SpaceX adds to busy manifest
Welcome to Edition 6.17 of the Rocket Report! Two Asian powers notched achievements in their human spaceflight programs this week. In China, three astronauts launched to begin a six-month expedition on the Tiangong space station. With this mission, China is settling into a routine of operations on the Tiangong complex. Elsewhere in Asia, India took…
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India celebrates “first major milestone” on path to launching astronauts
In 2018, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi committed his nation to develop its own capability to send astronauts into orbit, an achievement that would make India the fourth country with an independent human spaceflight program. On Saturday, that ambition moved a step closer to reality with a successful test of the human-rated spacecraft’s launch-abort system.…
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India sets sights on a Moon landing in 2040, but is it realistic?
In recent years the nation of India has embraced spaceflight as a means of establishing itself as a major geopolitical player. The Soviet Union and United States, of course, pioneered the use of space exploration to exercise soft power in the 1960s during the Cold War. More recently China has used its various space missions,…
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Launch Roundup: SpaceX to launch three Starlink missions; India to test crew abort system
Another busy period in spaceflight is underway with three Falcon 9 rockets with Starlink payloads and the first test flight of India’s Gaganyaan crew-capable spacecraft. Starlink 6-23 flew – ahead of 6-24 – from Space Launch Complex (SLC) 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida, while Starlink 7-5 flew out of SLC-4E…
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India launches first solar research mission, Aditya-L1, aboard PSLV
India’s space program continued its busy 2023 with the launch of its first solar research mission, Aditya-L1, on Saturday. Liftoff, aboard the country’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) XL rocket, occurred at 11:50 Indian Standard Time (06:20 UTC) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Aditya-L1 will be the first mission conducted by the Indian Space…
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India’s accomplishments in space are getting more impressive
It’s been more than a week since India’s Chandrayaan 3 mission landed on the Moon, and it’s a good time to assess where the world’s most populous nation stands relative to other global space powers. The successful arrival of the Chandrayaan 3 mission’s Vikram lander on the Moon made India the first country besides China…
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India’s accomplishments in space are getting more impressive
It’s been more than a week since India’s Chandrayaan 3 mission landed on the Moon, and it’s a good time to assess where the world’s most populous nation stands relative to other global space powers. The successful arrival of the Chandrayaan 3 mission’s Vikram lander on the Moon made India the first country besides China…
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India becomes the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the Moon
A robotic landing craft from India successfully touched down in the southern polar region of the Moon on Wednesday, making the rising space power the fourth nation to achieve a soft landing on the lunar surface. The Vikram lander from India’s Chandrayaan 3 mission landed at approximately 8:33 am EDT (12:33 UTC) after a nail-biting…
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India’s robotic lander touches down on the moon, lifting spirits at home and abroad
Indian mission controllers cheer the successful touchdown of the Vikram lunar lander. (ISRO via YouTube) A robotic Indian lander set down safely on the moon today, setting off a wave of pride that reached from Mission Control in Bengaluru to Seattle’s tech community. “India is now on the moon,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said over…