India achieved several historic milestones in 2025 as it propelled itself into the final frontier. From launching the world’s most expensive satellite to sending its astronaut to space, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has a lot to brag about as the year ends. Here are the biggest achievements that got added into the history books.
Achieving in-space docking with SPADEx
ISRO completed the historic in-space docking of two satellites launched under the SPADEx mission on December 30, 2024. After orbiting the Earth for over two weeks, the two SPADEx spacecraft – chaser and target – rendezvoused on January 16 about 470 km in the low-Earth orbit.
With this milestone, India became the fourth country to achieve in-space docking after the US, Russia and China.
Spadex undocking captured from both SDX-1 & SDX-2! 🛰️🛰️🎥
Watch the spectacular views of this successful separation in orbit.
Congratulations to India on this milestone! 🇮🇳✨ #Spadex #ISRO #SpaceTech pic.twitter.com/7u158tgKSG
— ISRO (@isro) March 13, 2025
Launching world’s most expensive satellite
In partnership with NASA, ISRO built the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar or NISAR satellite that launched on July 30 atop the GSLV rocket. Built at a cost of $1.5 billion, the satellite will track motion of ice sheets and glaciers, the deformation of land due to floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, wildfires, oil spills and landslides, along with changes in forest and wetland ecosystems.
According to NASA, this data collected over five years will help protect lives, support the management of natural resources, and give us a deeper understanding of our changing planet. On November 28, ISRO announced that NISAR has entered science phase.
Indian astronaut flies to space
On June 25, an Indian astronaut flew to space for the first time since 1984. Indian Air Force’s Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla boarded the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with three others for Axiom Space’s private Ax-4 mission which launched from Florida. He served as the mission pilot for Ax-4 after spending weeks training in the US.
Shukla also became the first astronaut to enter the International Space Station (ISS) where he spent 18 days. During the mission, he conducted several experiments focused on human health and plant growth.
Launching heaviest satellite from Indian soil
One of ISRO’s latest milestone came as recently as December 24 when it launched the heaviest satellite from Indian soil aboard the LVM3 rocket. Weighing 6,100 kg, the BlueBird 6 satellite by US-based AST SpaceMobile is designed to provide internet to standard unmodified smartphones directly from space.
A significant stride in India’s space sector…
The successful LVM3-M6 launch, placing the heaviest satellite ever launched from Indian soil, the spacecraft of USA, BlueBird Block-2, into its intended orbit, marks a proud milestone in India’s space journey.
It strengthens… pic.twitter.com/AH6aJAyOhi
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 24, 2025
According to AST, BlueBird 6 spans nearly 2,400 square feet and it’s the biggest of all six BlueBird satellites launched to date. ISRO is likely to get more contracts from AST as the company aims to launch 45 to 60 satellites by the end of 2026.
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