JAMMU, India (AP) — India docked two satellites in space on Thursday to become the fourth nation in the world to achieve the mission, officials said, in an ambitious milestone in its expansion of space technology.
The Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, maneuvered back together the two satellites, weighing 220 kilograms (485 pounds) each, during a “precision” space docking experiment, known as SpaDeX, the space agency said. It called the operation as a “historic moment.”
In December, the satellites, Chaser and Target, blasted off on a single rocket from the Sriharikota launch site.
“India docked its name in space history!” the ISRO said in a post on social media site X. “Post docking, control of two satellites as a single object is successful.”
The mission was postponed twice earlier due to technical issues.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Indian scientists on the successful mission. “It is a significant stepping stone for India’s ambitious space missions in the years to come,” he said on the X platform.
The successful mission, earlier achieved by only the Soviet Union, the United States and China, showcased India’s rising standing as a technology and space powerhouse and dovetails with its desire to project an image of an ascendant country asserting its place among the global elite.
In 2023, Modi said that India’s space agency will set up an Indian-crafted space station by 2035 and land an Indian astronaut on the moon by 2040.
Active in space research since the 1960s, India has launched satellites for itself and other countries, and successfully put one in orbit around Mars in 2014.
After a failed attempt to land on the moon in 2019, India became the first country to land a spacecraft near the moon’s south pole in 2023 in a historic voyage to uncharted territory that scientists believe could hold vital reserves of frozen water. The mission was dubbed as a technological triumph for the world’s most populous nation.
Aijaz Hussain, The Associated Press
