“Reason for the launch hold is identified and corrected,” ISRO posted on X, the platform formerly called Twitter. “Crew Escape System performed as intended. Mission Gaganyaan gets off on a successful note.”

The agency did not specify the cause of the delay.

The launch had been set for 8 a.m. (0230 GMT) but could not initially be completed. It was successfully completed at 10 a.m., ISRO said.

The Gaganyaan mission is aimed at developing a human-habitable space capsule that will carry a three-member crew into an orbit of 400 km (250 miles) for three days, before splashing down in the Indian Ocean.

ISRO has said it would explore ways to achieve a sustained human presence in space once Gaganyaan is completed.

About 90 billion Indian rupees ($1 billion) has been allocated for the mission, which follows the agency’s historic landing of its Chandrayaan-3 craft on the lunar south pole.

The Gaganyaan mission has been expected to launch from the country’s main spaceport in Sriharikota before 2024, although a schedule had not been announced.

Chennai-based Agnikul, whose name is derived from the Hindi and sanskrit word for fire, plans to launch a sub orbital rocket from its own launch pad within the next two months, which would be India’s second private launch after Skyroot’s Vikram-S.

It has so far raised a total of $40 million, and plans to use the latest funding to prepare for commercial launches, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to privatise the space sector and open it to foreign investment to fulfill India’s ambition of increasing its share of the global launch market five-fold within the next decade.

In August, India beat Russia to become the first country to successfully land on the unexplored south pole of the moon, a feat Agnikul CEO co-founder and CEO Srinath Ravichandran said helped his startup’s funding prospects.

“Because of Chandrayaan-3, there is a lot of credibility in the system,” Ravichandran said, referring to the name of the moon lander. He declined to say how much the company was worth.

India currently accounts for just 2% of the $400 billion global commercial space market, a share the government has said it wants to expand to $40 billion by 2040.

To encourage business, Agnikul aims to lower the cost of launches to “a fraction of our competitors” and plans to offer a launch platform where pricing is not dependent on the mass of payload, Ravichandran said.

Agnikul has started integrating Agnibaan, its customizable, 2-stage launch vehicle which can take up to 300 kg (about 660 lb) of payload to orbits around 700 km (435 miles), it said.

Founded in 2017, the company runs India’s first private launchpad and mission control centre. The Indian space agency, ISRO, operates all other launchpads in India.

“(Agnikul’s) mission underscores the spirit of collaboration amongst the Indian Space Research Organization, space regulators and entrepreneurs in driving advancements within India’s vibrant space-tech ecosystem,” said Arun Kumar, managing partner at Celesta Capital, which paid into the latest funding round.

Other investors include Rocketship.vc, Artha Venture Fund, Artha Select Fund and Mayfield India.

The final mission, expected to take place next year, is the first of its kind for the country and will cost about 90.23 billion Indian rupees ($1.08 billion). It will involve launching a human-habitable space capsule with a crew of three to an orbit of 400 km (250 miles) before bringing them safely back to land in Indian waters.

The word Gaganyaan in Hindi translates to sky craft.

The test this month will be conducted from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in southern India and will look at the efficacy of the crew escape system, which can be used to eject astronauts in emergencies.

It will be followed by another test flight carrying a robot to outer space before the final manned mission takes place, the minister said.

“Before the ultimate manned ‘Gaganyaan’ mission, there will be a test flight next year, which will carry Vyommitra, the female robot astronaut,” he said.

While an exact timeline has not been shared, the main mission is expected to be launched from the country’s main spaceport in Sriharikota before the end of 2024.

Singh was speaking at a program to commend Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists associated with the Chandrayaan-3 mission, which made India the first country to land on the south pole of the moon.

In September, the country’s space agency quickly followed up on this success by launching a rocket to study the sun – its first such solar mission.

Publicising ISRO scientists’ achievements has given them more confidence and brought space startups to the door, asking for guidance as they plan private launches.

When the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 mission landed on the moon, more than 8 million people tuned in for the event’s YouTube live-stream – a record for the site.

The landing was a win for India’s low-cost space engineering, and science, as well as a quiet initiative to rebrand India’s 54-year-old space agency as approachable, according to more than a dozen current and former employees, and 10 consultants and industry experts.

“ISRO used to be a very closed organization. There was hesitation in talking about its missions and somewhat of a culture of secrecy,” said Namrata Goswami, a space policy expert and professor at the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. “Fast forward to 2023, I was surprised by the amount of transparency from them. That is very new, and very welcome.”

The stakes are high: the $400 billion global commercial space market is expected to be worth $1 trillion by 2030, but at the moment India has only a 2% share – about $8 billion – which the government wants to change. India expects to have a $40 billion worth of slice of the pie by 2040, the government has said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called on the agency to make India into a profitable space superpower. To get there, the country needs to rope in young scientists, startups, investors, and private industry partners, none of whom respond well to a closed-off approach, senior ISRO scientists said.

“The point is to be open and engage the next generation,” said BHM Darukesha 49, who drafts and manages ISRO’s social media posts. “We want people to see us as friendly. … This represents a new focus at ISRO.”

That has caught the attention of university students who might otherwise have steered clear of the industry. Sruthi Parupudi, 18, who is studying interaction design in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, said she had long been interested in space, but thought such careers were closed off to non-scientists.

“Now I see the many facets of the industry open up,” she said. “I stand a chance to work with ISRO, being a design student.”

ISRO insiders credit S. Somanath, who took over as chairman in 2022, as being instrumental in getting everyone at the organisation onboard with the changes. Many scientists initially worried about job security and ISRO’s relevance after opening the sector to private industry, said seven senior scientists, who did not wish to be named because they are not authorised to talk to media.

Somanath said he implemented other small changes, such as encouraging break time, informal problem-solving chats and refreshment kiosks where employees can meet for tea. His goal was to make it all add up to a more attractive place to work and partner with.

“These small things that global companies have are not automatically available in government organisations all the time, and these are important for young people, whom we want to attract as we expand our reach,” Somanath said. “Many ideas can be discussed better over a cup of tea.”

Employees and experts say that they have felt more autonomy, and that a new atmosphere of straight talk helps projects move faster. Publicising ISRO scientists’ achievements has given them more confidence and brought space startups to the door, asking for guidance as they plan private launches.

A more responsive agency makes such partnerships more attractive, private space insiders say.

“Private industry does not need help, they need predictability,” said D S Govindrajan, president of Aniara Communications, which provides satellite services for emerging markets. “That kind of predictability is certainly there now.”

Above And Beyond

From its humble beginnings – stories of scientists’ using a church as a “mission control room” for the agency’s first launch and transporting rocket parts by bicycle are legendary in the country – ISRO has hit recent highs, becoming the first nation to land a rover on the moon’s south pole.

It has now set sights on studying the sun, putting astronauts in orbit, exploring Venus, and is a partner with NASA for planetary defence and deep space exploration.

“Space is a critical place through which you ascertain yourself as a superpower. The U.S. is there, China is there, so India has to be there,” said Ashok Sharma, visiting fellow at the University of New South Wales, Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy.

Modi’s government, heading for elections next year, is pushing the development of India’s space industry. Insiders say he has shown a personal interest in inviting foreign investment in the sector.

“He wants space to do what India has been able to do with IT,” a person familiar with discussions between the prime minister’s office and the industry said. The person declined to be named because the discussions are not public.

The government is widely expected to open the doors to foreign investment in the sector this year. ISRO will focus on exploration and new science, while three different bodies – the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) and the Indian Space Association (ISpA) – will interact the private sector, negotiate launches and boost business.

There are many obstacles: space launches are dominated by established companies and organisations, and a costly failure or economic downturn could undo the momentum.

“You are using public money, so you have to show the public what the money is being used for,” said Somak Raychaudhury, an astrophysicist and vice chancellor at Ashoka University.

But for now, the increased openness has led to optimism that the positive changes will be long-lived.

“People can now see scientists are normal human beings, and in some ways, maybe that can inspire young minds to study science further,” Raychaudhury said.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is currently training four astronauts and looking to expand the cohort as it aims for more future manned missions, Hutton said.

The Gaganyaan mission is aimed at developing a human-habitable space capsule that will carry a three-member crew into an orbit of 400 km (250 miles) for three days, before returning to safety in a planned splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

ISRO has said it will explore ways to achieve a sustained human presence in space once Gaganyaan is completed.

The team is aiming to test its crew escape system, which can be used to eject astronauts in emergencies, before undertaking a battery of other tests before the final launch phase, Hutton said, adding: “Safety is the most important thing we need to ensure”.

About 90.23 billion Indian rupees ($1.1 billion) has been allocated for the mission, which comes after the space agency’s historical landing of its Chandrayaan-3 craft on the lunar south pole.

While an exact timeline has not been shared, the mission is expected to be launched from the country’s main spaceport in Sriharikota before 2024.

The space agency has previously said its Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre had successfully tested systems for stabilising the crew module and safely reducing its velocity during re-entry.

The Pragyan rover from the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft was “set into Sleep mode” but with batteries charged and receiver on, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, late on Saturday.

“Hoping for a successful awakening for another set of assignments!” ISRO said. “Else, it will forever stay there as India’s lunar ambassador.”

By landing on the moon, India joined the United States, China and the former Soviet Union. It went beyond them in reaching the rugged south pole, shortly after Russia’s Luna-25 crashed on a similar attempt.

Chandrayaan-3’s soft, textbook touchdown after a failed attempt in 2019 sparked widespread jubilation in the world’s most populous country. The media hailed the landing as India’s greatest scientific feat.

Pragyan travelled over 100 m (330 feet), confirming the presence of sulphur, iron, oxygen and other elements on the moon, ISRO said.

Now India is hoping for the success of a probe launched on Saturday to study the sun, observing solar winds that can cause disturbance on earth commonly seen as auroras.

“The satellite is healthy” and in earth orbit, ISRO said on Sunday, as it prepares for its 1.5 million-km (930,000-mile) journey.