GSLV-F18 · NVS-03
30 Oct 2026 · GSLV · Success
GSLV's 20th flight launched the NVS-03 navigation satellite to help rebuild the NavIC constellation.
The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle adds a cryogenic upper stage — burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen — to lift satellites of about 2,250 kg towards geosynchronous orbit. It began with Russian-built cryogenic stages, failed often enough to be called ISRO's "naughty boy", and became reliable once India built its own.
GSLV has flown 20 times — every flight is here, because each one moved the cryogenic story forward.
20 milestones from 2001 to 2026: 14 successes, 4 failures, 2 partial successes and 0 other milestones.
A cryogenic-stage failure in 2021 grounded GSLV for almost two years. Since its return it has flown six times in a row without fault, including India's first joint satellite with NASA.
30 Oct 2026 · GSLV · Success
GSLV's 20th flight launched the NVS-03 navigation satellite to help rebuild the NavIC constellation.
4 Sep 2026 · GSLV · Success
GSLV launched EOS-05 (GISAT-1A), replacing the satellite lost on GSLV-F10 five years earlier.
30 Jul 2025 · GSLV · Success · First GSLV to sun-synchronous orbit
GSLV, built for geosynchronous orbits, placed the NASA–ISRO NISAR radar satellite in a 747 km sun-synchronous orbit — the first time it flew to that kind of orbit.
29 Jan 2025 · GSLV · Success · 100th launch from Sriharikota
GSLV performed perfectly on the spaceport's 100th launch and delivered NVS-02 to its transfer orbit. The satellite's own engine valve then failed, but that was a spacecraft fault, not the rocket's.
17 Feb 2024 · GSLV · Success
GSLV launched INSAT-3DS, the latest of India's geostationary weather satellites, adding to the monsoon and cyclone monitoring done by INSAT-3D and 3DR.
29 May 2023 · GSLV · Success
GSLV returned with NVS-01, the first second-generation NavIC satellite, carrying India's first home-built atomic clock.
Comeback from GSLV-F10.
What went wrong: The cryogenic upper stage did not ignite and GISAT-1 was lost.
Why: Pressure dropped in the liquid-hydrogen tank because of a leak in its vent-and-relief valve.
What fixed it: The valve was redesigned; GSLV-F12 flew successfully 21 months later.
12 Aug 2021 · GSLV · Failure
On the first flight with the larger 4-metre ogive payload fairing, the cryogenic upper stage did not ignite and EOS-03 (GISAT-1) was lost.
After almost four years of redesign and ground testing, India's own cryogenic engine flew successfully, and GSLV began a run of clean launches.
19 Dec 2018 · GSLV · Success
GSLV launched GSAT-7A, a communication satellite for the Indian Air Force — its heaviest payload up to then.
29 Mar 2018 · GSLV · Success
This flight introduced an uprated Vikas engine with higher thrust and launched GSAT-6A. The rocket worked; the satellite lost contact a few days later during orbit raising.
5 May 2017 · GSLV · Success
GSLV launched GSAT-9, the South Asia Satellite — built by India to provide communication services to neighbouring countries in the region.
8 Sep 2016 · GSLV · Success
The first operational flight with the Indian cryogenic stage launched the INSAT-3DR weather satellite, which images the monsoon and cyclones from geostationary orbit.
27 Aug 2015 · GSLV · Success
GSLV-D6 repeated the success with GSAT-6, a military communication satellite with a 6-metre unfurlable antenna, confirming that D5 was not a one-off.
5 Jan 2014 · GSLV · Success · First Indian cryogenic stage in orbit
The Indian Cryogenic Upper Stage fired for its full duration and placed GSAT-14 in its planned orbit. India joined the small group of countries able to build and fly a cryogenic rocket stage.
Comeback from GSLV-D3.
What went wrong: India's first cryogenic stage shut down about a second after ignition.
Why: The stage's fuel booster turbopump stopped running.
What fixed it: The turbopump and related hardware were redesigned and ground-tested for almost four years before GSLV-D5 flew.
India bought cryogenic upper stages from Russia while developing its own; export-control pressure in the 1990s stopped Russia from transferring the technology itself. The first GSLVs worked only some of the time, and 2010 brought two failures in nine months.
25 Dec 2010 · GSLV · Failure
About a minute after lift-off, connectors to the strap-on boosters snapped, the rocket lost control and was destroyed with GSAT-5P. It was the last GSLV to fly a Russian cryogenic stage. Two successes in seven flights earned the rocket its "naughty boy" nickname.
15 Apr 2010 · GSLV · Failure
The first flight of the Indian Cryogenic Upper Stage, with its CE-7.5 engine, failed about a second after ignition when the fuel booster turbopump stopped. GSAT-4 was lost.
2 Sep 2007 · GSLV · Partial
GSLV-F04 delivered INSAT-4CR, the replacement for the satellite lost on F02, but into a lower transfer orbit than planned. The satellite reached its slot using more of its own fuel, shortening its life.
10 Jul 2006 · GSLV · Failure
One of the four liquid strap-on boosters lost thrust seconds after lift-off. The rocket veered off course and was destroyed by range safety along with INSAT-4C.
20 Sep 2004 · GSLV · Success
GSLV's first operational flight launched EDUSAT, a satellite dedicated to distance education that linked classrooms across India.
8 May 2003 · GSLV · Success
The second developmental GSLV placed the experimental GSAT-2 communication satellite in its planned transfer orbit, completing the rocket's development flights.
Comeback from GSLV-D1.
What went wrong: GSAT-1 was left below its planned transfer orbit.
Why: The rocket delivered less performance than planned on its first flight.
What fixed it: With adjustments after the first flight, GSLV-D2 placed GSAT-2 in the right orbit.
18 Apr 2001 · GSLV · Partial
The first GSLV reached orbit, but a shortfall in performance left GSAT-1 below its planned transfer orbit and the satellite could not reach its geostationary slot.
GSLV stands for Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle. It is designed to carry communication, navigation and weather satellites to a geosynchronous transfer orbit, from which they climb to about 36,000 km.
Because of its early record: between 2001 and 2010 several flights failed or left satellites in the wrong orbit, and only two of its first seven launches were clean successes. Since India's own cryogenic stage started flying in 2014, it has been far more reliable.
They are different rockets. GSLV Mk II is 51.7 m tall with four liquid strap-ons and a CE-7.5 cryogenic stage, carrying about 2,250 kg to GTO. LVM3 — once called GSLV Mk III — has two huge solid boosters, a 4 m-wide core and a more powerful CE-20 cryogenic engine, carrying about 4,000 kg to GTO.
ISRO's Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre developed the CE-7.5 engine under the Cryogenic Upper Stage Project, which began in 1994 after Russia was prevented from transferring cryogenic technology to India. It first flew successfully on GSLV-D5 in 2014.
Related: All ISRO Rockets, ISRO Missions Timeline, NavIC Tracker, Next ISRO Launch.