Skyroot Co-Founder Was A 'Bad' Student, Scored 51 In Maths, Now Sends Rocket To Orbit: 'Never Imagined'

Space startup Skyroot Aerospace scripted history on Saturday (Jul 18) by becoming the first private company in India to deploy an indigenously developed rocket into orbit. Reflecting on the success, Skyroot co-founder Pawan Kumar Chandana shared that he dialled his father first after the Vikram-1 successfully reached orbit. Chandana also shared his journey from being a bad student to making it to IIT before contributing to one of India's biggest modern-day success stories.

Chandana, alongside Naga Bharath Daka, launched the ambitious start-up in 2018 when the sector was not even open to private players.

"As everything slowly begins to sink in, and after finally getting some sleep last night, I wanted to share a small personal note," wrote Chandana in an X (formerly Twitter) post.

"The first call I made after Vikram-1 successfully reached orbit was to my Dad. He is the man who made my journey possible with dreams for me far bigger than the ones I had for myself, and by simply never giving up on me."

Chandana said he could never have imagined that a child who scored poorly till the 8th standard would one day become an integral part of India's space story.

"Until my 8th standard, I was a bad student. I scored 51 marks in Maths and even failed another subject. Back then, I could never have imagined that I would one day make it to an IIT or have the privilege of contributing to India's first privately developed rocket reaching orbit, making India only the third country in the world to achieve this," said Chandana.

The 29-year-old thanked his father for his belief in him, adding that he cried on the call and could not speak a single word.

"When I called him after the launch, he just cried. And cried. He couldn't speak a single word. But I understood every word he couldn't say. I managed to hold back my tears when Vikram-1 reached orbit. But somehow, writing this, I can't."

Check The Viral Post Here:

As everything slowly begins to sink-in, and after finally getting some sleep last night, I wanted to share a small personal note…✍️

The first call I made after Vikram-1 successfully reached orbit was to my Dad.

He is the man who made my journey possible—with dreams for me far… pic.twitter.com/RvQVtsoCRr

— Pawan (@PawanKChandana) July 21, 2026

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Skyroot Success

The Vikram-1 rocket lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, carrying several customer payloads and in-orbit experiments on its maiden orbital mission, dubbed "Mission Aagaman". It successfully injected its payload into a 450 km orbit about 15 minutes later.

The mission was intended to validate the rocket's propulsion, avionics, telemetry, guidance, navigation and control systems in flight while collecting data for future commercial launches.

Founded in 2018, Skyroot is among a new generation of Indian space startups that have attracted backing from global investors following the sector's liberalisation.