Prateek Tanmay
2 min readJun 15, 2026 10:59 PM IST
After back-to-back failure of its workhorse launch vehicle, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is likely to attempt another PSLV launch soon.
“As for PSLV, we are planning by the end of June or beginning of July,” said Union Science Minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Monday, on the sidelines of an event to celebrate 12 years of the PM Narendra Modi-led government.
The space agency has not conducted any launches since its last PSLV failed to put the earth observation satellite, EOS-N1, in orbit in January this year. Earlier, in May 2025, the launch vehicle failed to put earth observation satellite EOS-09 in orbit. Both the rockets failed in their third stage.
According to officials in the know of the matter, the flights failed due to certain components that were not manufactured by ISRO. For future flights, the vendor for the components have been changed, they said. While the report of the failure assessment committee has not been made public, the space agency has maintained that the two flights failed due to separate faults.
Apart from the launch of PSLV, the first orbital launch by the private company Skyroot is also expected soon. The payload fairing — the upper part of the launch vehicle that houses satellites — for its Vikram-I rocket was sent to the country’s only spaceport at Sriharikota in April-end.
When asked about the space agency’s calendar, Singh said that the focus would be on the country’s human spaceflight mission Gaganyaan. “The Gaganyaan mission got delayed for a number of reasons, including Covid-19 when the astronauts who were under training had to be called back from Russia. But, the hope is to complete all test flight before the end of the year,” he said.
The space agency will have to carry out at least two uncrewed flights — besides a sub-orbital flight, if needed — before the first crewed mission can be launched.
