The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) completed the docking process of the SpaceX satellites on Thursday.
“India docked its name in space history! Good morning. India ISRO’s SpaceX mission accomplished a historic docking success. Proud to witness this moment!”, ISRO said in a post on ‘X’.
The historic moment came just days after the space agency, on January 12, brought the two spacecraft to three metres and placed them back at a safe distance in its trial attempt to dock the satellites.
The Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission was successfully launched on December 30, 2024.
ISRO posted about the docking process for the SpaDeX satellites on X. The process begins with completing a manoeuvre from a 15-meter to a 3-meter hold point.
Then, docking was initiated precisely, leading to a successful spacecraft capture. “Retraction was completed smoothly, followed by digitization for stability. Docking was completed,” the report said.
India became the fourth country to complete this space docking after the United States, Russia, and China.
The space agency also reported that controlling two satellites as a single object was successful after docking. Undocking and power transfer checks will follow in the coming days,” it said in an update on the mission.
