Space questions come up in every exam season, and ISRO’s launches are also big current affairs. This guide gives a clean, mission-by-mission view of India’s space journey. For a quick timeline, see our ISRO revision page.
ISRO at a glance
Fact
Detail
Founded
15 August 1969 (earlier INCOSPAR, 1962)
Father of Indian space programme
Dr Vikram Sarabhai
Headquarters
Bengaluru
Department
Department of Space (1972), reports to the Prime Minister
Chairman
Dr V. Narayanan (since January 2025)
Main launch site
Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh)
Rocket R&D
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram
Second spaceport
Kulasekarapattinam (Tamil Nadu), for small launchers (under construction)
Commercial arm
NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL); also Antrix (1992)
Private space regulator
IN-SPACe (2020)
Launch vehicles
Rocket
Key fact
SLV-3
First Indian launcher; put Rohini in orbit (18 July 1980); project led by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
ASLV
Augmented SLV (1980s–90s)
PSLV
“Workhorse of ISRO”; 4 stages; launched Chandrayaan-1, Mangalyaan, Aditya-L1
GSLV (Mk II)
Uses an indigenous cryogenic upper stage; launches NavIC and GSAT satellites
LVM3 (GSLV Mk III)
ISRO’s heaviest rocket; launched Chandrayaan-2, Chandrayaan-3, OneWeb; human-rated version (HLVM3) for Gaganyaan
SSLV
Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (first success 2023)
NGLV
Next Generation Launch Vehicle (under development)
Moon, Mars and Sun missions
Mission
Launch
Key fact
Chandrayaan-1
22 Oct 2008 (PSLV-C11)
Found evidence of water molecules on the Moon
Mangalyaan (MOM)
5 Nov 2013 (PSLV-C25)
Reached Mars orbit on 24 Sep 2014; India first to succeed on the first attempt and first in Asia
Chandrayaan-2
22 Jul 2019 (LVM3)
Orbiter works; lander Vikram crash-landed
Chandrayaan-3
14 Jul 2023 (LVM3)
Landed near the lunar south pole on 23 Aug 2023 (first country to do so); site named Shiv Shakti point
Aditya-L1
2 Sep 2023 (PSLV-C57)
First Indian solar observatory; reached the L1 point on 6 Jan 2024
XPoSat
1 Jan 2024 (PSLV-C58)
India’s first X-ray polarimetry satellite
Records and milestones
Event
Year
Fact
PSLV-C37
2017
104 satellites in one launch (a world record at the time)
Mission Shakti
2019
Anti-satellite (ASAT) test; India the 4th country
SpaDeX
Jan 2025
Docked two satellites in space; India the 4th country to dock
NVS-02 (GSLV-F15)
Jan 2025
ISRO’s 100th launch from Sriharikota
Axiom-4
Jun–Jul 2025
Shubhanshu Shukla, first Indian on the ISS
NISAR (GSLV-F16)
30 Jul 2025
NASA–ISRO radar satellite for Earth observation
CMS-03 (LVM3-M5)
Nov 2025
Heaviest communication satellite launched from India (about 4,400 kg, approx)
BlueBird Block-2 (LVM3-M6)
Dec 2025
Heaviest payload ever lifted by an Indian rocket (US company AST SpaceMobile; approx 6,100 kg)
Launches in 2026 (so far)
Date
Vehicle
Payload
Result
12 Jan 2026
PSLV-C62
EOS-N1 and others
Failed (third-stage anomaly)
4 Sep 2026
GSLV-F17
GISAT-1A (EOS-05)
Success
30 Oct 2026
GSLV-F18
NVS-03 (NavIC)
Success; NavIC back to four working satellites
PSLV also failed in May 2025 (PSLV-C61, EOS-09). Private company Skyroot Aerospace flew its Vikram-I orbital rocket separately (not counted as an ISRO launch).
NavIC
Point
Detail
Full form
Navigation with Indian Constellation (earlier IRNSS)
Coverage
India and about 1,500 km around it
Second generation
NVS series satellites (NVS-01 2023, NVS-02 2025, NVS-03 2026) with indigenous atomic clocks
