India and US mark historic first with joint NISAR satellite launch

GSLV F-16 places NASA-ISRO NISAR satellite in precise orbit

- AAISHA SABIR

NEW DELHI: India and the United States achieved a significant milestone in their space partnership on Wednesday with the successful launch of the NISAR satellite aboard an Indian GSLV F-16 rocket.

The mission marked the first time the two nations collaborated on a spaceflight, concluding more than a decade of joint work between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and NASA.

The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle lifted off at 5:40 pm from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, carrying the 2,393-kg NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite into a precise Sun Synchronous Polar Orbit (SSPO), approximately 745 km above Earth. This was also the GSLV's first mission to an SSPO, as previous launches had targeted geosynchronous transfer orbits.