ISRO successfully docks SpaDeX satellites in space, creates history

Indian Space Research Organisation, the Indian space agency, succeeded in docking or mating two Indian satellites in space Thursday morning. This is part of the Space Docking Experiment or SpaDeX. This was the fourth attempt when Indian scientists finally hit Bullseye.

At about 10 am ISRO announced Docking Success. "Spacecraft docking successfully completed! A historic moment. Let's walk through the SpaDeX docking process: Manoeuvre from 15m to 3m hold point completed. Docking initiated with precision, leading to successful spacecraft capture. Retraction completed smoothly, followed by rigidisation for stability. Docking successfully completed. India became the 4th country to achieve successful Space Docking. Congratulations to the entire team! Congratulations to India!"

Docking is a very complex process and ISRO attempted it cautiously doing several trials over a fortnight.