India, July 19 -- India scripted a historic chapter in its space programme on Saturday as Hyderabad-based startup Skyroot Aerospace successfully launched Vikram-1, the country's first privately developed orbital launch vehicle, placing multiple technology demonstration payloads into a 450-km low Earth orbit (LEO).

The achievement makes India only the third country in the world, after the United States and China, to demonstrate private-sector orbital launch capability, marking a significant milestone in the country's rapidly expanding commercial space ecosystem.

The four-stage Vikram-1 lifted off at 12.05 pm from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, after a brief planned hold owing to a n...