New Delhi:
The Indian space agency, ISRO, on Thursday accomplished de-docking of the SpaDeX satellites, clearing the way for the smooth conduct of the country’s ambitious future missions, including Chandrayaan-4, Gaganyaan, setting up a space station and landing an astronaut on the moon.
The ISRO also shared two videos on X, showing the “spectacular views” of the successful separation in orbit.
“Spadex undocking captured from both SDX-1 and SDX-2,” the post read.
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
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
Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh called it an “unbelievable de-docking”.
“SpaDeX satellites accomplished the unbelievable de-docking. This paves the way for smooth conduct of ambitious future missions, including the Bharatiya Antriksha Station, Chandrayaan 4 & Gaganyaan,” Mr Singh wrote on X.
“Congrats team ISRO. And heartening for every Indian,” he added.
The Minister said Prime Minster Narendra Modi’s “continuous patronage keeps the spirits soaring”.
ISRO’s SpaDeX Mission
The SpaDeX mission was launched on December 30 last year from Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota launch site. The ISRO subsequently placed two satellites – SDX01 and SDX02 – in orbit to demonstrate the docking experiment in space.
The space agency then successfully docked the two satellites, weighing 220 kilograms each, on January 16.
ISRO successfully completed docking of two SPADEX satellites (SDX-01 & SDX-02) in the early hours of 16 January, 2025.#SPADEX #ISRO pic.twitter.com/UJrWpMLxmh
— ISRO (@isro) January 17, 2025
India became the fourth nation to achieve the milestone after Russia, the US and China.
