After delays, India carries out space docking mission

NEW DELHI

After two delays, India has carried out a spacecraft docking, making the South Asian nation the fourth country to achieve the feat, its space agency said Thursday.

“Docking initiated with precision, leading to successful spacecraft capture. Retraction completed smoothly, followed by rigidisation for stability. Docking successfully completed,” the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said on Thursday morning.

The Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission, launched on Dec. 30, aimed to develop India’s orbital docking capability, a critical technology for future space missions.

The two small spacecraft were launched aboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C60) from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in southern India.

ISRO had said the mission's main goal is to “develop and demonstrate the technology needed for rendezvous, docking, and undocking of two small spacecraft in a low-earth circular orbit.”

Earlier, the agency had delayed the docking of twin satellites under the SpaDeX mission for the second time, citing unexpected drift between the spacecraft.

Congratulating the scientists and the space fraternity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on X: “It is a significant stepping stone for India’s ambitious space missions in the years to come,” he wrote on X.

NEW DELHI

After two delays, India has carried out a spacecraft docking, making the South Asian nation the fourth country to achieve the feat, its space agency said Thursday.

The Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission, launched on Dec. 30, aimed to develop India’s orbital docking capability, a critical technology for future space missions.

The two small spacecraft were launched aboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C60) from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in southern India.

ISRO had said the mission's main goal is to “develop and demonstrate the technology needed for rendezvous, docking, and undocking of two small spacecraft in a low-earth circular orbit.”

Earlier, the agency had delayed the docking of twin satellites under the SpaDeX mission for the second time, citing unexpected drift between the spacecraft.