by JAMMU, India (AP) — India docked two satellites in space Thursday, becoming the fourth country in the world to accomplish the mission, officials said. This is an ambitious milestone in the expansion of space technology.
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) maneuvered the two satellites, each weighing 220 kilograms (485 pounds), back together during a “precision” space docking experiment known as SpaDeX, the space agency said. The operation was described as a “historic moment”.
In December, the Chaser and Target satellites were launched on a single rocket from the Sriharikota launch site.
“India has enshrined its name in space history!” ISRO said in a post on social media site X: “After docking, control of two satellites as a single object is successful.”
The mission has already been postponed twice due to technical problems.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Indian scientists on the successful mission. “It is an important milestone for India’s ambitious space missions in the coming years,” he said on the X platform.
The successful mission, previously carried out only by the Soviet Union, the United States and China, demonstrated India’s growing position as a technology and space power and fits with its desire to project an image of an emerging country asserting its place among the global elite .
In 2023, Modi said that the Indian Space Agency would build an Indian-built space station by 2035 and land an Indian astronaut on the moon by 2040.
India has been active in space exploration since the 1960s, launching satellites for itself and other countries and successfully placing one into orbit around Mars in 2014.
After a failed attempt to land on the moon in 2019, India in 2023 became the first country to land a spacecraft near the moon’s south pole in a historic journey into unknown territory that scientists believe holds vital reserves of frozen water could. The mission was hailed as a technological triumph for the world’s most populous country.
