April 19, 1975:   Aryabhata was India's first satellite, named after the great Indian astronomer of the same name. It was launched by the Soviet Union on this day.

February 11, 1992:   The satellite re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on this day.

• It was built by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to gain experience in building and operating a satellite in space.
• It was built to conduct experiments in X-ray astronomy, aeronomics, and solar physics. The spacecraft was a 26-sided polygon 1.4 m in diameter.
• All faces (except the top and bottom) were covered with solar cells.
• All signals from the spacecraft were lost after 5 days of operation.
• ISRO is the primary space agency of the Indian government. ISRO is amongst the six largest government space agencies in the world, along with America's NASA, Russia's RKA, Europe's ESA, China's CNSA and Japan's JAXA.
• Rohini, the first satellite to be placed in orbit by an Indian-made launch vehicle, SLV-3, was launched in 1980.
• ISRO subsequently developed two other rockets: the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) for putting satellites into polar orbits and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) for placing satellites into geostationary orbits.