Rocket Report: Indian startup Skyroot nears first orbital launch; SpaceX Falcon 9 hits 1000th flight milestone
Tags Hardware · Space · Infrastructure · Enterprise
Ars Technica's Rocket Report covers Skyroot Aerospace's upcoming Vikram-1 launch attempt from Sriharikota, which would make it the first Indian private company to reach orbit. Separately, SpaceX's Falcon 9 achieved its 1000th flight — a milestone reached in 14 years. NASA awarded Rocket Lab three dedicated Electron launches for science payloads. Blue Origin's New Glenn and ULA's Vulcan remain on track for maiden flights in H2 2026.
Technical significance
Skyroot's orbital attempt marks the emergence of India's commercial launch sector, diversifying global small-lift capacity beyond Rocket Lab and US providers. Falcon 9's 1000 flights with a 99.7% success rate establishes a new reliability benchmark for reusable launch. NASA's multi-provider strategy (Rocket Lab, Firefly, SpaceX) reduces single-point-of-failure risk for science missions but increases integration complexity.