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NEW DELHI: India became on Thursday the fourth country to achieve docking in space by joining two small aircraft, a feat that cements its place as a global space power.

Space docking is the connecting of two spacecraft in orbit. It requires precise navigation and control and is crucial for space missions that involve transferring astronauts or cargo, conducting repairs, or refueling.

The Indian Space Research Organization launched its docking mission on Dec. 30 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota island off the Bay of Bengal.

Codenamed the Space Docking Experiment, or SpaDeX, the mission involved deploying two small spacecraft, each weighing about 220 kg, into an orbit approximately 470 km above Earth.

The ISRO announced the program’s success on Thursday morning.

“A historic moment ... Docking initiated with precision, leading to successful spacecraft capture. Retraction completed smoothly, followed by rigidisation for stability. Docking successfully completed,” it said on X.

“India became the 4th country to achieve successful space docking.”

Only the US, Russia and China have previously docked in space. The US marked its first successful docking with the Gemini 8 mission performed by astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott in 1966. Russia joined the race with the success of its Soyuz 11 mission in 1969, and China with Shenzhou 8 in 2011.

Joining the exclusive group brings India closer to its plan to build a modular space station, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, by 2035.

“If you want to have a research station in orbit, or if you want to go to the moon, land, and come back, you need to have a mechanism by which one entity is revolving and another entity can come and attach to it in orbit. That is called docking,” said Syed Maqbool Ahmed, a former ISRO scientist who was part of the Chandrayaan program — the Indian Lunar Exploration Program.

“Docking is so highly complex, extremely complex ... you are trying to very precisely manage going to an object which is there in the orbit and your speed is 25,000 kph. The other object is also going at the same speed.”

SpaDeX was a crucial step toward establishing a space station and also keeping up with India’s key rival, China.

“China has already put up its hardware. China’s space station is all active, working. Their astronauts are going to the space station and coming back. India would love to do the same thing,” Ahmed told Arab News.

“So much of talent is there in India ... The ambition of building a space station is always there and I think the project is going with full steam. This is a simple stepping stone for that mission. It is just great. A lot of hurdles are overcome.”

Space docking adds to India’s exploration status, following the successful launch of Aditya-L1 in 2023 — the country’s first solar observation mission, and the world’s second after the US Parker Solar Probe in 2021.

Also in 2023, ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 moon rover made history by landing on the lunar surface, making India the first country to land near the south pole and the fourth to land on the planet — after the US, the Soviet Union, and China.

The projects are key features of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to establish India as a superpower.

For the past few years the government has been creating the environment and long-term investment for the industry to flourish and involve the private sector as well. In October, it approved a $116 million venture capital fund to support space sector-focused startups.

As Modi congratulated the ISRO on the successful SpaDeX mission, he said on X it was a “significant stepping stone for India’s ambitious space missions in the years to come.”

Hours later, the Indian government approved the construction of a third launchpad in Satish Dhawan Space Center to be completed in four years at a cost of $460 million.

“The Project will boost the Indian Space ecosystem by enabling higher launch frequencies and the national capacity to undertake human spaceflight & space exploration missions,” the Cabinet said in a statement.

“It will be realized with maximum industry participation fully utilizing ISRO’s experience in establishing the earlier launch pads and maximally sharing the existing launch complex facilities.”