India launches more than 100 satellites into orbit
NEW DELHI — India’s space agency said it successfully launched more than 100 foreign nano satellites into orbit Wednesday aboard a single rocket.
The Indian Space Research Organization said the nano satellites — those weighing less than 10 kilograms (22 pounds) — were sent into orbit from southern India. It said the launching of the 104 satellites was a record, overtaking Russia’s feat of sending 37 satellites in a single launch in 2014.
“All 104 satellites were successfully placed in orbit,” the Press Trust of India news agency quoted ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar as saying. They included an Indian Earth observation satellite and two small technology demonstration satellites.
The ISRO said in a statement that the other satellites were international customer satellites, including 96 from the United States and one each from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Israel, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates.