Vizag Duo Makes History: India's First Private Rocket Reaches Orbit
Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka from Vizag launch Vikram-1, India’s first private rocket, into orbit, marking a monumental leap for Skyroot Aerospace and Indian space ambition.
Dumtika Editorial
July 18, 2026 · 1 min read
(Image: Dumtika Editorial)
Two Boys from Vizag Just Launched India's First Private Rocket into Orbit
The salt air of Visakhapatnam breeds dreamers. But Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka didn't just dream — they built a rocket and sent it screaming into orbit.
Today, July 18, 2026, at exactly 12:05 PM, their Vikram-1 tore through the skies above Sriharikota, and India's private space age was born. Fifteen minutes. That's all it took to cross the line between ambition and history. Four payloads deployed. A 450-kilometer orbit kissed. A nation roaring.
These are boys who once walked the beaches of Vizag staring up at stars. They powered through IIT, cut their teeth at ISRO, and then did what nobody in India had ever dared — they quit safe government jobs, set up shop in Hyderabad, and said, "We'll build our own rockets."
Eight years. A thousand engineers. One audacious bet.
And today? Today that bet paid off in fire and glory.
From a ten-person team in a Hyderabad office to the launchpad at Sriharikota, Skyroot Aerospace didn't just enter the space race, they exploded into it. India's SpaceX moment is here, and it speaks Telugu.
