ISRO chief prays at Tirumala temple with his team ahead of landmark 100th launch at Sriharikota

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in the early hours of Wednesday (January 29, 2025) will oversee the historic 100th launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota with the GSLV-F15 mission.

The first launch, on August 10, 1979, was the experimental flight of Satellite Launch Vehicle-3 (SLV-3 E10) carrying the Rohini Technology Payload, which was only partially successful according to the space agency. The late former President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who was then with ISRO, was the Director of this mission. Dr. Kalam and ISRO officials recovered from the setback and tasted success with the SLV-3E2 a year later, on July 18, 1980, as the Rohini satellite, RS-1, was placed in orbit.

After this, ISRO launched two more SLV missions; four Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) missions; 62 missions from its workhorse, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV); 16 Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) missions; seven Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (LMV3) missions; three Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) missions; one Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) mission; one Test Vehicle Abort Mission; and one Pad Abort Test (PAT) as part of the Gaganyaan programme.