India rocket launches space docking mission

NEW DELHI: India launched a rocket on Monday carrying two small spacecraft to test docking in space, a critical step for the country´s dreams of a space station and a manned Moon mission.

The mission is “vital for India´s future space ambitions”, Jitendra Singh, the country´s science and technology minister, said in a statement ahead of the launch, which was broadcast live by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced plans last year to send a man to the Moon by 2040. The PSLV-C60 rocket, which blasted off on Monday evening at the Sriharikota launch site with shooting flames as it soared into the night sky, included two 220-kilogramme (485-pound) satellites.

ISRO has dubbed the mission SpaDeX, or Space Docking Experiment. “PSLV-C60 successfully launches SpaDeX and 24 payloads,” it said in a statement. The mission is intended to “develop and demonstrate the technology needed for rendezvous, docking, and undocking of two small spacecraft”, it added.

The technology is “essential” for India´s Moon plans, it added, calling it a “key technology for future human spaceflight and satellite servicing missions”. It will involve a “precision rendezvous”, manoeuvering satellites orbiting Earth at speeds of 28,800 kilometres per hour (17,895 miles per hour).