Telangana CM Flags Off Vikram-1 Rocket Hardware

Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy flagged off the flight hardware of Vikram-1, India's first privately developed orbital rocket, at Skyroot Aerospace's facility in Hyderabad on April 25, marking a significant step toward the country's inaugural private orbital launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

The ceremony, held at the company's MaxQ campus in Rangareddy district, saw Reddy and Industries Minister D. Sridhar Babu send off the rocket's payload fairing and propulsion stages after preflight testing. Developed entirely in Hyderabad by Skyroot Aerospace, Vikram-1 is a multistage vehicle designed to deploy satellites weighing up to 350 kilograms into low Earth orbit. Powered by in-house 3D-printed engines and high-thrust solid boosters, the all-carbon composite rocket represents a rapid advancement for the firm, which achieved its first suborbital launch in 2022.

Reddy described the event as a proud milestone for Telangana, emphasizing the state's leadership in India's aerospace sector. "Skyroot has developed India's first privately built orbital rocket to carry satellites into space. Reaching the stage of orbital launch in such a short time is a...