New Delhi, July 5 -- for the first time in India's history, a national space milestone will be attempted by a private company instead of the government agency that has owned every previous one.

Skyroot Aerospace announced a launch window of July 12 to August 4 for Vikram-1, the flight the company is calling Mission Aagaman, Sanskrit for "arrival." The rocket will lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, the same launch complex the Indian Space Research Organisation has used for decades, but this time under Skyroot's own vehicle and Skyroot's own risk. If it reaches orbit, Vikram-1 will be the first privately built and privately launched orbital rocket in Indian history.

The specifications describe a genuinely small v...