India's first homegrown satellite was one among 64 launched by Elon Musk's SpaceX

Bengaluru, Dec 5: It was proud moment for India as it's first homegrown satellite built by Exseed Space also took-off when Elon Musk's SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from California on Monday carrying 64 small satellites into low orbit around the Earth, which the company called the largest-ever "rideshare" mission by a U.S.-based rocket.

The mission, dubbed SSO-A, also marked the third voyage to space for the same Falcon 9 rocket - another milestone for SpaceX's cost-cutting reusable rocket technology.

The Falcon 9 blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 10:34 a.m. local time (18:34 GMT) carrying satellites from 34 different companies, government agencies, and universities, including the University of Illinois.

India sent their first-ever satellite into space, designed and produced in Mumbai-and Hyderabad, by the Mumbai-based startup company Exseed Space.

The Indian satellite ExseedSat-1 was one of 70 satellites from 16 countries that will be launched on-board Elon Musk's SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday. It's an exciting time not just for the Indian space industry and Exseed Space, but also on a global scale.

Exseed Space is a Mumbai-based startup that has designed and constructed Indian's first privately built satellite. They will become the first ever Indian company to send a satellite to space.

Founded by Kris Nair and Farhan Ashhar, Exseed Space is also working towards setting up India's first contract satellite manufacturing facility and once the facility gets operational, it will cater to the growing global demands of manufacturing Cubesats, Nano-sats & Micro-sats. The startup has been seed funded by Mumbai-based First Cheque, an early stage focussed fund looking to invest in 100 startups in next 5 years.