When I first came to India, the space industry was closed to private players.
The most well-known "startup" at that time was TeamIndus. Skyroot didn't exist.
A year later, in 2018, Skyroot was founded. Private companies in India couldn't launch rockets yet, but Pawan and Bharath forged ahead regardless, optimistic that liberalisation would happen someday.
Then, in 2020, it did. Indian companies were finally free to compete with American, Russian, European, and Chinese startups. They could build their own launch vehicles. And satellites. At an undisclosed location in the United States, Elon swallowed hard.
I was publishing videos about Indian companies on YouTube at this point. I remember thinking, "Making content about these spacetech developments is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
Now, ~6 years later, Skyroot has gifted India with the biggest white pill of all time. While the world watched, a team of ~1,000+ Indian optimists (with an average age of 28) flawlessly executed an orbital rocket launch.
No private space company IN THE WORLD has ever done this on their first try. As I write this, I have goosebumps. I feel incredibly privileged to have been able to witness this firsthand. I also feel inspired by the resilience, ingenuity, and wherewithal of the entire Skyroot team.
The next chapter of India's space journey has officially begun.
A kid from middle class family in Congress's India could max only think of either joining govt or top IT companies but in Chodi's India the same kid can now dream of building his own Space, Semiconductor and Quantum computing company and manufacture rockets and launch it
ORBIT ACHIEVED. 🚀
Vikram-1 Test Flight-1 has reached orbit. India's first privately developed orbital rocket has completed its final burn and injected its payloads into a ~450 km orbit, making India the third country in the world with private orbital launch capability.
History is made. 🇮🇳
#Vikram1 #JourneyToOrbit #SkyrootAerospace
ORBIT ACHIEVED. 🚀
Vikram-1 Test Flight-1 has reached orbit. India's first privately developed orbital rocket has completed its final burn and injected its payloads into a ~450 km orbit, making India the third country in the world with private orbital launch capability.
History is made. 🇮🇳
#Vikram1 #JourneyToOrbit #SkyrootAerospace
On the ‘alarm’ over China now believed to be churning out J-20 stealth fighters like biscuits, a crucial, sobering take from 2 Air Marshals who’ve been on the frontline of IAF planning: