An Indian company broke the US-China duopoly on commercial spaceflight.
India has a decades-old state space sector, which has even landed a rover on the moon. But Skyroot’s Vikram-1 rocket that launched Saturday is the first private Indian craft to reach orbit.
The Indian space industry has grown quickly. New Delhi only permitted commercial companies to enter the sector in 2020; Skyroot became its first space unicorn in June. Despite Skyroot’s promising start — neither SpaceX nor Rocket Lab successfully reached orbit on their first go — the real challenges lie ahead: repeated, profitable launches, heavier rockets, and eventually reusable ones.
China’s private space sector is also growing, but despite a reusable rocket breakthrough, it’s unlikely to catch SpaceX, which dominates launches.