ISRO Missions List: Quick Answer
This page lists 25 landmark flights, from Aryabhata in 1975 to PSLV-C62 in January 2026 — every mission students are asked about, with the launch date, the rocket, what happened, and the "first" it set. Nine more missions are listed separately as upcoming targets, because none of them has flown yet. The newest flown success is NISAR (30 July 2025), the first joint ISRO–NASA Earth mission. The newest setback is PSLV-C62 (12 January 2026), which failed in its third stage. The most-watched next flight is Gaganyaan G1, the uncrewed test flight carrying the robot Vyommitra, targeted for the last quarter of 2026 but not yet flown as of 7 November 2026.
🔥 Key Exam Takeaway: Aryabhata = 1975 (first satellite, Soviet rocket). Rohini RS-1 = 1980 (first satellite on an Indian rocket). Chandrayaan-1 = 2008 (water on the Moon). Mangalyaan = 2013/2014 (Mars on the first attempt, ₹450 crore). Chandrayaan-3 = 23 August 2023 (first landing near the lunar south pole; 4th country to soft-land). Aditya-L1 = 2023/2024 (Sun observatory at L1). SpaDeX = January 2025 (docking; 4th country). NISAR = 30 July 2025. Gaganyaan crewed flight = targeted 2027, NOT yet flown.
Why do websites disagree about Gaganyaan and Chandrayaan-4 dates? Because ISRO's own targets have slipped more than once — G1 moved from early 2026 to the end of 2026, and Chandrayaan-4 is quoted as both 2027 and 2028. Any page that gives a fixed future date without the word "targeted" is probably out of date. This page is as of 7 November 2026, and every future item is labelled a target.
What Is ISRO? (The Basics)
ISRO is the Indian Space Research Organisation, India's national space agency, formed in 1969 and headquartered in Bengaluru. It launches from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, which has two launch pads today, with a third approved. Its three workhorse rockets are the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, the reliable light-to-medium launcher), the GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, with an indigenous cryogenic upper stage) and the heavy-lift LVM3 (Launch Vehicle Mark 3, the rocket that carried Chandrayaan-2, Chandrayaan-3 and will carry Gaganyaan).
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) |
| Formed | 1969 (succeeding INCOSPAR, set up in 1962) |
| Headquarters | Bengaluru, Karnataka |
| Launch centre | Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh |
| Chairman (2026) | Dr V. Narayanan (took charge in January 2025) |
| 100th Sriharikota launch | GSLV-F15 / NVS-02, 29 January 2025 |
| Motto in exams | Space technology for national development — communication, remote sensing, navigation, science |
Latest ISRO News 2025–2026 (with Dates)
These are the developments most likely to be asked this year, because they are newer than most textbooks.
| Date | Development | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 12 January 2026 | PSLV-C62 / EOS-N1 failed — a disturbance in the third-stage (PS3) roll rates near the end of the burn pushed the rocket off its path; all 16 satellites (EOS-N1 plus 15 co-passengers) were lost. | Second PSLV failure in a row, after PSLV-C61 in May 2025 — both third-stage anomalies. |
| 24 October 2026 | ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan said Gaganyaan G1 would fly "in two months", pointing to late December 2026. No launch date has been announced. | G1 is targeted for Q4 2026; as of 7 November 2026 it has not flown. |
| 12 October 2026 | The two SpaDeX satellites re-entered the atmosphere, about seven hours apart, ending the mission after nearly 21 months. | Closes the docking-demonstration mission that made India the 4th docking country. |
| 23 August 2026 | 3rd National Space Day held at Ahmedabad, theme: "Towards Viksit Bharat: Innovating, Collaborating and Aspiring to Global Space Leadership". | The day marks Chandrayaan-3's landing; 2026 was its third observance. |
| 30 July 2025 | NISAR launched on GSLV-F16 — the first ISRO–NASA joint Earth-observation mission, costing over 1.5 billion US dollars. | World's first dual-frequency (L-band + S-band) radar imaging satellite. |
| 3 November 2026 | PIB/DST reported Aditya-L1's VELC instrument helped reconstruct a solar eruption (coronal mass ejection) in 3D. | Aditya-L1 is producing published science, not just flying. |
ISRO Missions List: Complete Timeline (1975–2026)
One chronological table. "Firsts" means firsts for India unless stated otherwise. Two rows — Rakesh Sharma (1984) and Axiom-4 (2025) — are Indian human-spaceflight milestones that were not ISRO launches; they are included because exams ask them alongside ISRO missions, and the vehicle column says so.
| Mission | Launch date | Vehicle / destination | Outcome / status | Firsts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aryabhata | 19 April 1975 | Kosmos-3M (Soviet), from Kapustin Yar | India's first satellite; worked about 4 days (60 orbits) before a power failure | First Indian satellite, named after the 5th-century astronomer |
| Bhaskara-I | 7 June 1979 | Interkosmos (Soviet) | First experimental remote-sensing satellite (TV and microwave cameras) | First Indian Earth-observation satellite |
| Rohini RS-1 | 18 July 1980 | SLV-3, from Sriharikota | First satellite placed in orbit by an Indian-made rocket | India joined the small group of countries able to orbit a satellite with its own launch vehicle |
| APPLE | 19 June 1981 | Ariane (European) | First experimental communication satellite, three-axis stabilised in geostationary orbit | First Indian communication satellite; APPLE = Ariane Passenger Payload Experiment |
| INSAT-1B | 30 August 1983 | Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-8) | Deployed from the Shuttle and boosted to geostationary orbit; worked for years | First fully operational INSAT (INSAT-1A, April 1982, failed within months) |
| Rakesh Sharma — Soyuz T-11 | 3 April 1984 | Soyuz (Soviet), to Salyut-7 | First Indian in space; 7 days 21 hours in orbit; famous "Saare Jahan Se Achcha" reply | First Indian in space (Indo-Soviet flight, not an ISRO launch) |
| IRS-1A | 17 March 1988 | Vostok (Soviet), from Baikonur | First operational remote-sensing satellite; worked far beyond its 3-year design life | Start of the IRS series, India's resource-mapping system |
| PSLV-D1 / IRS-1E | 20 September 1993 | PSLV, first developmental flight | Failed — guidance problem; IRS-1E never reached orbit. PSLV-D2 succeeded in October 1994. | First PSLV flight (a failure students forget) |
| Chandrayaan-1 | 22 October 2008 | PSLV-C11, to the Moon | Orbiter + Moon Impact Probe (impacted 14 November 2008); contact lost 29 August 2009 after most objectives were met | First Indian lunar mission; confirmed water molecules on the Moon (NASA's M3 instrument) |
| IRNSS-1A | 1 July 2013 | PSLV-C22 | First satellite of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, now called NavIC | First Indian navigation satellite (7-satellite constellation) |
| Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) | 5 November 2013 | PSLV-C25, to Mars | Entered Mars orbit on 24 September 2014; worked for 8 years (designed for 6 months) | First Asian nation to reach Mars; first country to succeed on the maiden attempt; cheapest Mars mission (₹450 crore) |
| GSLV-D5 / GSAT-14 | 5 January 2014 | GSLV Mk II | First successful flight of the indigenous cryogenic upper stage | India became the sixth space agency with an indigenous cryogenic engine |
| AstroSat | 28 September 2015 | PSLV-C30 | India's first space observatory; 5 payloads watching X-ray, ultraviolet and optical light together | First dedicated Indian astronomy mission |
| GSLV Mk III-D1 / GSAT-19 | 5 June 2017 | GSLV Mk III (now LVM3), first orbital flight | 3,136 kg GSAT-19 placed in orbit; the heavy-lift rocket proved itself | First orbital flight of the LVM3 family that later flew Chandrayaan and Gaganyaan |
| Chandrayaan-2 | 22 July 2019 | LVM3-M1, to the Moon | Vikram lander crashed on 6 September 2019 (software glitch); the orbiter is still working and relayed Chandrayaan-3 | First Indian attempt at a soft lunar landing; crash site named Tiranga Point |
| Chandrayaan-3 | 14 July 2023 | LVM3-M4, to the Moon | Vikram landed 23 August 2023 at about 69°S; Pragyan rover travelled over 100 metres for one lunar day | First country to land near the lunar south pole; 4th country to soft-land on the Moon; landing site named Shiv Shakti Point |
| Aditya-L1 | 2 September 2023 | PSLV-C57, to Sun–Earth L1 | Entered a halo orbit around Lagrange Point L1 on 6 January 2024, about 1.5 million km from Earth | India's first space-based solar observatory (7 payloads) |
| TV-D1 | 21 October 2023 | Test Vehicle, suborbital | Crew Escape System test: capsule pulled away at Mach 1.2, splashed down in the Bay of Bengal and was recovered by the Navy | First Gaganyaan abort test |
| XPoSat | 1 January 2024 | PSLV-C58 | X-ray polarimetry observatory studying black holes, neutron stars and pulsars | India's first dedicated X-ray polarimetry mission |
| SpaDeX | 30 December 2024 | PSLV-C60, two satellites (SDX01, SDX02) | Docking achieved 16 January 2025 (third attempt); undocking 13 March 2025; second docking 20 April 2025 | 4th country to master space docking, after the US, Russia and China |
| GSLV-F15 / NVS-02 | 29 January 2025 | GSLV-F15 | NVS-02 (NavIC, second generation) placed in transfer orbit | 100th launch from Sriharikota; first launch under Chairman V. Narayanan |
| PSLV-C61 / EOS-09 | 18 May 2025 | PSLV | Failed — third-stage anomaly (pressure drop); EOS-09 lost | First PSLV failure of the current sequence |
| Axiom Mission 4 | 25 June 2025 | Falcon 9 / Dragon (Axiom Space, NASA) | Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla spent 18 days on the ISS, ran 7 ISRO experiments, splashed down 15 July 2025 | First Indian on the International Space Station; second Indian in space (not an ISRO launch) |
| NISAR | 30 July 2025 | GSLV-F16 | 2,393 kg satellite in a 747 km Sun-synchronous orbit; first GSLV flight to such an orbit | First ISRO–NASA joint Earth mission; world's first dual-frequency radar satellite |
| PSLV-C62 / EOS-N1 | 12 January 2026 | PSLV | Failed — third-stage roll-rate disturbance near the end of the burn; all 16 satellites lost | Second consecutive PSLV third-stage failure |
Upcoming ISRO Missions (Targets, Not Launch Dates)
Every date in this section is a target announced by ISRO or the government. Targets slip — Gaganyaan G1 alone has slipped from early 2026 to late 2026. Never write these years in an exam answer without the word "targeted".
| Mission | Target | What it is | Status as of 7 November 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gaganyaan G1 | Q4 2026 | First uncrewed orbital test flight, carrying the half-humanoid robot Vyommitra, on the human-rated LVM3 | Not flown; chairman said "in two months" on 24 October 2026 |
| Gaganyaan crewed flight (H1) | 2027 | 3 astronauts to about 400 km orbit for up to 3 days, after further uncrewed tests | No firm date; would make India the 4th country with independent human spaceflight |
| Chandrayaan-4 | 2027 or 2028 — sources differ; state both | Lunar sample-return: two LVM3 launches, docking in lunar orbit, a few kilograms of south-pole soil brought home; ₹2,104.06 crore approved September 2024 | Landing-site studies under way |
| LUPEX / Chandrayaan-5 | 2028–29 | ISRO–JAXA mission to the lunar south pole; JAXA rover hunting water ice; about 100 days of surface life | No launch date fixed |
| Venus Orbiter Mission (Shukrayaan) | March 2028 (launch window) | Orbiter to study Venus's surface and thick, acidic atmosphere; ₹1,236 crore approved September 2024 | In development |
| TRISHNA | Late 2027 (October 2027–February 2028 window) | ISRO–CNES thermal-infrared Earth-observation satellite for water, farming and climate; 761 km orbit, 5-year life | Advanced stage of realisation, per ISRO, October 2026 |
| Bharatiya Antariksh Station — BAS-1 | First module 2028; full 5-module, 52-tonne station 2035 | India's own space station at about 400 km; first module approved September 2024 (₹1,763 crore) | Under design |
| Crewed Moon landing | 2040 | An Indian landing on the Moon and safe return, under the Prime Minister's guideline | Long-term goal |
| Third launch pad, Sriharikota | Approved | A new pad for all vehicles including the Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV); about ₹4,000 crore | Approved; ISRO today relies on two pads |
ISRO Missions: Records and Firsts
| Record | Answer |
|---|---|
| First Indian satellite | Aryabhata (1975) — launched by a Soviet rocket |
| First satellite on an Indian rocket | Rohini RS-1 (1980) — SLV-3 |
| First Indian in space | Rakesh Sharma (1984) — Soyuz T-11 |
| First Indian on the ISS | Shubhanshu Shukla (2025) — Axiom-4 |
| First lunar mission | Chandrayaan-1 (2008) — found water molecules |
| First Mars mission | Mangalyaan (2013/2014) — first attempt, ₹450 crore |
| First south-pole Moon landing (world) | Chandrayaan-3 (2023) |
| First solar observatory | Aditya-L1 (2023/2024) |
| First docking (4th country) | SpaDeX (2025) |
| First ISRO–NASA joint mission | NISAR (2025) |
| Cheapest Mars mission | Mangalyaan, ₹450 crore — about a tenth of NASA's MAVEN |
| 100th Sriharikota launch | GSLV-F15 / NVS-02 (2025) |
| Most recent failure | PSLV-C62 (January 2026) — third stage |
One-line facts that are asked in exams
- Chandrayaan-1's Moon Impact Probe hit near Shackleton crater on 14 November 2008; the spot is called Jawahar Point.
- Chandrayaan-3's landing site is Shiv Shakti Point; Chandrayaan-2's crash site is Tiranga Point.
- Pragyan means "wisdom" in Sanskrit; the rover weighed about 26 kg and was built to travel up to 500 metres.
- Vikram (both landers) is named after Dr Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space programme.
- Vyommitra is a half-humanoid robot (head, arms, upper body, no legs) that will fly on Gaganyaan's uncrewed test flights before any astronaut does.
- L1 is a Lagrange point about 1.5 million km from Earth towards the Sun, where Aditya-L1 can watch the Sun without interruption.
- NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) is India's own regional navigation system, built from the IRNSS satellites plus the NVS series.
- NISAR carries two radars — NASA's L-band and ISRO's S-band — and can see through clouds, day and night.
Common Mistakes Students Make
- Aryabhata was not launched by an Indian rocket. It went up on a Soviet Kosmos-3M. Rohini RS-1 (1980) was the first satellite on an Indian-made rocket.
- Chandrayaan-2 was not a total failure. The Vikram lander crashed, but the orbiter worked — and is still working. Say "lander failed, orbiter succeeded".
- Chandrayaan-3 was not the first Moon landing. It was the first landing near the south pole, and India was the 4th country to soft-land, after the US, the Soviet Union and China.
- No Indian has flown on an ISRO rocket yet. Rakesh Sharma flew Soviet (1984) and Shubhanshu Shukla flew American (2025). Gaganyaan's crewed flight is still a target for 2027.
- Aditya-L1 did not land on the Sun. It orbits the L1 point, 1.5 million km from Earth, and observes the Sun from there.
- PSLV does fail sometimes. Two in a row failed — PSLV-C61 (May 2025) and PSLV-C62 (January 2026) — both in the third stage. Do not call PSLV "100% reliable".
- NISAR is an Earth mission, not a Moon mission. It watches Earth's surface, glaciers, forests and earthquakes from a 747 km orbit.
- "Gaganyaan 2026" on old pages is stale. The crewed flight was once talked about for 2026; the current official target is 2027, and even that has no firm date.
How to Remember ISRO Missions (Study Method)
- Learn the decade spine first: 1975 Aryabhata → 1980 Rohini → 2008 Moon water → 2013 Mars → 2019 crash → 2023 Moon landing → 2024 Sun → 2025 docking and NISAR → 2026 PSLV failure.
- Learn the "four firsts" as a set: first satellite (Aryabhata), first Indian rocket success (Rohini), first Moon water (Chandrayaan-1), first Mars attempt (Mangalyaan).
- Learn the two failure pairs: PSLV-D1 (1993) failed at the start of the PSLV story; PSLV-C61 and C62 (2025–26) failed at the end of it — both times, the third stage.
- Learn the 2023–2025 run as one story: Chandrayaan-3 lands (Aug 2023) → Aditya-L1 reaches L1 (Jan 2024) → SpaDeX docks (Jan 2025) → NISAR flies (Jul 2025). Four missions, three years, four different destinations.
- For the pipeline, learn targets with the word "targeted" attached: G1 (2026), crewed (2027), Chandrayaan-4 (2027/2028), Venus (March 2028), station (2035), Moon landing (2040).
ISRO Missions MCQs with Answers
Q1. India's first satellite, Aryabhata, was launched in: (a) 1969 (b) 1975 (c) 1980 (d) 1983 Answer: (b) 1975, on a Soviet Kosmos-3M rocket from Kapustin Yar.
Q2. The first satellite placed in orbit by an Indian-made launch vehicle was: (a) Aryabhata (b) Bhaskara-I (c) Rohini RS-1 (d) APPLE Answer: (c) Rohini RS-1, on SLV-3 on 18 July 1980.
Q3. Water molecules on the Moon were confirmed using data from which instrument on Chandrayaan-1? (a) CHACE (b) Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) (c) VELC (d) POLIX Answer: (b) Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), a NASA instrument aboard Chandrayaan-1.
Q4. Mangalyaan entered Mars orbit on 24 September 2014. What was its approximate cost? (a) ₹45 crore (b) ₹450 crore (c) ₹4,500 crore (d) ₹45,000 crore Answer: (b) ₹450 crore, making it the cheapest Mars mission ever flown.
Q5. Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander touched down on: (a) 14 July 2023 (b) 23 August 2023 (c) 6 September 2019 (d) 22 October 2008 Answer: (b) 23 August 2023, near the lunar south pole. The date is now National Space Day.
Q6. Aditya-L1 observes the Sun from a halo orbit around L1, about how far from Earth? (a) 1.5 lakh km (b) 3.84 lakh km (c) 1.5 million km (d) 150 million km Answer: (c) 1.5 million km, towards the Sun. (3.84 lakh km is the Moon's distance.)
Q7. With SpaDeX's docking on 16 January 2025, India became the ___ country to master space docking. (a) Second (b) Third (c) Fourth (d) Fifth Answer: (c) Fourth, after the United States, Russia and China.
Q8. NISAR, launched on 30 July 2025, is a joint mission of ISRO and: (a) ESA (b) JAXA (c) NASA (d) CNES Answer: (c) NASA. It was launched on GSLV-F16 and is the world's first dual-frequency radar satellite.
Q9. The PSLV-C62 / EOS-N1 mission of 12 January 2026 failed because of an anomaly in the: (a) First stage (b) Second stage (c) Third stage (d) Fourth stage Answer: (c) Third stage — a roll-rate disturbance near the end of the PS3 burn. PSLV-C61 failed in the same stage in May 2025.
Q10. Vyommitra, who will fly on Gaganyaan's uncrewed test flight G1, is: (a) India's first astronaut (b) A half-humanoid robot (c) A recovery ship (d) A new rocket Answer: (b) A half-humanoid robot, built to test the crew module's systems before astronauts fly.
ISRO Missions FAQs
How many ISRO missions are listed on this page?
25 landmark flights from 1975 to 2026, plus 9 upcoming missions listed separately as targets. The count covers the missions exams ask about, not every satellite ISRO has ever launched — the 100th Sriharikota launch was in January 2025, and more have flown since.
When was ISRO founded?
In 1969, succeeding INCOSPAR (set up in 1962). Its headquarters are in Bengaluru and it launches from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
Has India sent humans to space on its own rocket?
Not yet. Rakesh Sharma flew on a Soviet Soyuz in 1984 and Shubhanshu Shukla flew on an American Axiom/SpaceX mission in 2025. India's own crewed flight, Gaganyaan, is targeted for 2027.
What is the status of Gaganyaan G1?
Targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026, carrying the robot Vyommitra and no crew. As of 7 November 2026 it has not flown and no launch date has been announced; the ISRO Chairman said on 24 October 2026 that it was about two months away.
What is NISAR and why is it special?
The NASA–ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite, launched 30 July 2025 on GSLV-F16. It is the first joint ISRO–NASA Earth-observation mission and the world's first satellite carrying two radar frequencies (L-band and S-band), watching Earth's surface, ice, forests and earthquakes through cloud, day and night.
Why is National Space Day on 23 August?
It marks the soft landing of Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander near the lunar south pole on 23 August 2023. The first observance was in 2024; 2026 was the third, held at Ahmedabad.
Which ISRO missions failed recently?
PSLV-C61 (EOS-09, 18 May 2025) and PSLV-C62 (EOS-N1, 12 January 2026) — both lost to third-stage anomalies. Earlier failures students should know: PSLV-D1 (1993) and the Chandrayaan-2 lander crash (2019), whose orbiter still works.
Related topics: revise Important Days List 2026 (National Space Day, 23 August), Nuclear Power Plants in India List (another technology list in the same format), First in India List (Rakesh Sharma and other firsts), Physics for RRB Group D and Science Numericals for RRB ALP and JE next.
Practice Next
- Test yourself: SSC CGL Science Mock Test 01
- More science practice: SSC CGL General Awareness Sectional Mock Test 01
- Physics practice: RRB Group D General Science Physics Sectional Mock Test 01
- More free notes: All Study Notes
- More GK lists: Research Institutes in India List
Sources: ISRO (isro.gov.in) mission pages and chairman's statements; PIB press releases (Department of Space, DST) of 2024–2026; NASA Science (Chandrayaan-1, STS-8); ISRO monthly summary, January 2025 (100th launch); CNES TRISHNA mission page; Lok Sabha / Rajya Sabha replies on Gaganyaan, BAS and TRISHNA (2026). Pipeline dates are targets as announced, not confirmed launches. As of 7 November 2026.