India Achieves ‘Historic’ Space Docking Mission

India docked two satellites in space on Thursday, marking a key milestone for the country’s ambitions of a space station and manned Moon mission, the space agency announced.
The satellites, each weighing 220 kilograms (485 pounds), were launched in December from India’s Sriharikota launch site aboard a single rocket. They later separated.
On Thursday, the two satellites were maneuvered back together in a “precision” process, resulting in a “successful spacecraft capture,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said, calling it a “historic moment.”
India became the fourth country to achieve the feat — dubbed the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) — after Russia, the United States, and China.
The mission’s goal was to “develop and demonstrate the technology needed for rendezvous, docking, and undocking of two small spacecraft,” ISRO said.
Two previous docking attempts had been postponed due to technical issues.
ISRO stated that this technology is “essential” for India’s Moon mission and follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement last year to send a manned mission to the Moon by 2040.
The world’s most populous nation has made significant strides in its space program over the past decade, matching the achievements of established space powers at a much lower cost.
In August 2023, India became only the fourth nation to land an unmanned craft on the Moon.