Aryabhata

Aryabhata was India's first satellite, a 360 kg, 26-sided polyhedron built to study the Earth's ionosphere and X-ray astronomy. It launched aboard a Soviet Kosmos-3M rocket from Kapustin Yar, making India the 11th nation to place a satellite in orbit.

Its scientific instruments operated for only a handful of days before an onboard power failure ended the mission — but as India's first satellite, it marked the true beginning of the space programme that would eventually reach the Moon and Mars.