Chennai-based Agnikul Cosmos’ successful launch of its rocket Agnibaan on Thursday marked a milestone for the seven-year-old start-up as well as for India’s ‘New Space’ companies, most of them start-ups. To be sure, Agnikul’s was not the first privately-made rocket to be launched in India; that honour belongs to Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace, which launched its Vikram S rocket into sub-orbital flight in November 2022. And like Skyroot’s launch, Agnikul’s rocket also made a sub-orbital flight, reaching an altitude of a little over 8 km. Indeed, the rocket was called Agnibaan SOrTeD (Sub-Orbital Technology Demonstrator). But Agnikul can boast of at least three firsts with its launch – it was powered by the world’s first 3D-printed rocket engine; it was India’s first semi-cryogenic rocket engine, flying on a kerosene-liquid oxygen (LOX) fuel-oxidiser mixture; and it was launched from India’s first private space launch pad, Agnikul’s own ‘Dhanush’ pad, and monitored from the company’s own mission control centre, albeit located within ISRO’s space launch complex at Sriharikota.