Milestones

1962
Indian  National  Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) formed and work on establishing Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) started.

1963
First sounding rocket launch from TERLS (November 21, 1963).

1965
Space Science and Technology Centre (SSTC) established in Thumba.

1967
Satellite Telecommunication Earth Station set up at Ahmedabad.

1968
TERLS dedicated to the United Nations (February 2, 1968).

1969
Indian  Space  Research  Organisation (ISRO) formed (August 15, 1969).

1972
Space Commission and Department of Space set up. ISRO brought under DOS (June 1, 1972).

1972-76
Air-borne remote sensing experiments.

1975
ISRO becomes Government Organisation (April 1, 1975).
First Indian Satellite, Aryabhata, launched (April 19, 1975).

1975-76
Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) conducted.

1977-79
Satellite Telecommunication Experiments Project (STEP) carried out.

1979
Bhaskara-I, an experimental satellite for earth observations, launched (June 7, 1979).
First  Experimental  launch of SLV-3 with Rohini Technology Payload on board (August 10, 1979). Satellite could not be placed in orbit.

1980
Second  Experimental launch of SLV-3. Rohini satellite successfully placed in orbit (July 18,1980).

1981
First developmental launch of SLV-3. RS-D1 placed in orbit (May 31, 1981).
APPLE, an experimental geostationary communication satellite successfully launched (June 19, 1981).
Bhaskara-II launched (November 20, 1981).

1982
INSAT-1A launched (April 10, 1982). Deactivated on September 6, 1982.

1983
Second developmental launch of SLV-3. RS-D2 placed in orbit (April 17, 1983).
INSAT-1B, launched (August 30, 1983).

1984
Indo-Soviet manned space mission (April 1984).

1987
First developmental launch of ASLV with SROSS-1 satellite on board (March 24, 1987). Satellite could not be placed in orbit.

1988
Launch of first operational Indian Remote Sensing satellite, IRS-1A (March 17, 1988).
Second developmental launch of ASLV with SROSS-2 on board (July 13,1988). Satellite could not be placed in orbit.

INSAT-1C launched (July 22, 1988). Abandoned in November 1989.

1990
INSAT-1D launched (June 12, 1990).

1991
Launch of second operational Remote Sensing satellite, IRS-1B (August 29, 1991).

1992
Third developmental launch of ASLV with SROSS-C on board (May 20, 1992). Satellite placed in orbit.
INSAT-2A, the first satellite of the indigenously-built second-generation INSAT series, launched (July 10, 1992).

1993
INSAT-2B, the second satellite in INSAT-2 series, launched (July 23, 1993).
First  developmental  launch of PSLV with IRS-1E on board (September 20, 1993). Satellite could not be placed in orbit.

1994
Fourth developmental launch of ASLV with SROSS-C2 on board (May 4, 1994). Satellite placed in orbit.
Second developmental launch of PSLV with IRS-P2 on board (October 15, 1994). Satellite successfully placed in polar sun synchronous orbit.

1995
INSAT-2C, the third satellite in INSAT-2 series, launched (December 7, 1995).
Launch of third operational Indian Remote Sensing Satellite, IRS-1C (December 28, 1995).

1996
Third developmental launch of PSLV with IRS-P3 on board (March 21, 1996). Satellite placed in polar sunsynchronous orbit.

1997
INSAT-2D, fourth satellite in INSAT series, launched (June 4, 1997). Becomes inoperable on October  4, 1997. (An in-orbit satellite, ARABSAT-1C, later renamed INSAT-2DT, was acquired in November 1997 to partly augment INSAT system).

First operational launch of PSLV with IRS-1D on board (September 29, 1997). Satellite placed in orbit.

1998
INSAT system capacity augmented with the readiness of INSAT-2DT acquired from ARABSAT (January 1998).

1999
INSAT-2E, the last satellite in the multipurpose
INSAT-2 series, launched by Ariane from Kourou, French Guyana (April 3, 1999).
Indian Remote Sensing Satellite, IRS-P4 (OCEANSAT-1), launched by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C2) along with Korean KITSAT-3 and German DLR-TUBSAT from Sriharikota (May 26, 1999).

2000
INSAT-3B, the first satellite in the third generation INSAT-3 series, launched by Ariane from Kourou, French Guyana (March 22, 2000).

2001
Successful flight test of Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) (April 18, 2001) with an experimental satellite GSAT-1 on board.
Successful launch of PSLV-C3 (October 22, 2001) placing three satellites – India’s TES, Belgian PROBA and German BIRD, into Polar sun-synchronous orbit.

2002
Successful launch of INSAT-3C by Ariane from Kourou, French Guyana (January 24, 2002).
Successful launch of KALPANA-1 by ISRO’s PSLV from SDSC, SHAR (September 12, 2002).

2003
Successful launch of INSAT-3A by Ariane from Kourou, French Guyana (April 10, 2003).
Successful launch of second developmental test flight of GSLV (GSLV-D2) with GSAT-2 on board from SDSC SHAR (May 8, 2003).
Successful launch of INSAT-3E by Ariane from Kourou, French Guyana (September 28, 2003).
Successful launch of RESOURCESAT-1 by ISRO’s PSLV-C5 from SDSC SHAR, (October 17, 2003).

2004
Successful first operational flight of GSLV (GSLV-F01) from SDSC SHAR. EDUSAT placed in GTO (September 20, 2004).

2005
Successful launch of CARTOSAT-1 and HAMSAT by PSLV-C6 from the newly established Second Launch Pad at SDSC SHAR (May 5, 2005).
Successful launch of INSAT-4A by Ariane from Kourou, French Guyana (December 22, 2005).

2006
Second operational flight of GSLV (GSLV-F02) from SDSC SHAR with INSAT-4C on board. (July 10, 2006). Satellite could not be placed in orbit.

2007
PSLV-C7 successfully launches four satellites – India’s CARTOSAT-2 and Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1) and Indonesia’s LAPAN-TUBSAT and Argentina’s PEHUENSAT-1 (January 10, 2007).
Successful recovery of SRE-1 after manoeuvring it to reenter the earth’s atmosphere and descend over the Bay of Bengal about 140 km east of Sriharikota
(January 22, 2007).