India's first private rocket Vikram-S lifts off successfully

Agencies | New Delhi                     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Vikram-S, India's first-ever privately developed rocket successfully lifted off from the Sriharikota space port on Friday morning.

The lift-off of the Vikram Suborbital rocket took place at 11.30am from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.

"Mission Prarambh is successfully accomplished. Congratulations" tweeted the Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO, tagging the organisation in the tweet.

The 'Prarambh' mission and the Vikram-S rocket have been developed by Skyroot Aerospace — a start up in Hyderabad supported by the ISRO and IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre). The rocket is carrying payloads of two Indian and one international customers into space.

"89.5km peak altitude achieved. Vikram-S rocket meets all flight parameters. It's history in the making for India. Keep watching," Skyroot Aerospace tweeted, attaching a YouTube link of the flight.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh, on Friday, arrived at Sriharikota for the grand launch of 'Vikram S'.

Taking to Twitter, Jitendra Singh shared a picture with the team members of Skyroot Aerospace which he captioned:

"With #StartUp Team "Skyroot Aerospace" at #Sriharikota, minutes before the launch of the first ever private Rocket, Vikram-S, named after Vikram Sarabhai, the founding father of India's Space program. Countdown begins!"

'Vikram-S' is named after Vikram Sarabhai, the founding father of India's Space Program.

With the groundwork starting around late 2020, Vikram-S has been developed within a record time of two years, and is powered by solid-fuelled propulsion, cutting edge avionics, and an all-carbon fibre core structure, as per Skyroot Aerospace.

Vikram S is among one of the first few all-composite space launch vehicles, which is made up of 3D-printed solid thrusters for its spin stability.

As per Skyroot Aerospace, with a body mass of 545kg, length of 6m, and diameter of 0.375m, Vikram-S is the quickest and most affordable ride to space.