LVM3, first called GSLV Mk III and nicknamed "Bahubali", is ISRO's most powerful rocket: two giant solid boosters, a liquid core and a CE-20 cryogenic upper stage, 640 tonnes at lift-off. It has launched both Chandrayaan landers, India's first commercial mega-constellation flights and the heaviest payload ever sent up from Indian soil — without a single failure so far.
LVM3 has flown 9 times, every one a success. Its next big job is carrying India's first astronauts on Gaganyaan.
9 milestones from 2014 to 2025: 9 successes, 0 failures, 0 partial successes and 0 other milestones.
Two flights in two months pushed LVM3 to new records — first to geosynchronous transfer orbit, then to low Earth orbit.
24 Dec 2025 · LVM3 · Success · Heaviest payload launched from India
LVM3 placed AST SpaceMobile's 6,100 kg BlueBird Block-2 in a roughly 520 km orbit — its first dedicated launch for a US customer and the heaviest payload ever launched from India.
2 Nov 2025 · LVM3 · Success
LVM3 launched CMS-03 (GSAT-7R), a 4,400 kg Navy communication satellite — the heaviest satellite India had sent towards geosynchronous orbit. The flight also tested the cryogenic stage further after separation.
When OneWeb lost access to Russian rockets in 2022, it turned to ISRO. Two LVM3 flights carrying 36 satellites each made the rocket a commercial launcher — renamed LVM3 along the way.
14 Jul 2023 · LVM3 · Success · Launched India's Moon landing
LVM3 sent Chandrayaan-3 on the journey that ended with the first landing near the lunar south pole on 23 August 2023.
26 Mar 2023 · LVM3 · Success
A second batch of 36 OneWeb satellites completed the company's first-generation constellation.
23 Oct 2022 · LVM3 · Success
LVM3's first commercial flight carried 36 OneWeb internet satellites, about 5.8 tonnes, to low Earth orbit — the first time it flew to LEO rather than a transfer orbit.
LVM3 was built to launch four-tonne communication satellites without depending on foreign rockets. Its first flight was a suborbital test; by its fourth it was sending India's second Moon mission on its way.
22 Jul 2019 · LVM3 · Success
LVM3's first operational flight placed Chandrayaan-2 into a higher-than-planned Earth orbit, saving the spacecraft fuel. The rocket's part went perfectly; the Vikram lander was lost during its Moon landing attempt seven weeks later.
14 Nov 2018 · LVM3 · Success
The second developmental flight launched the GSAT-29 high-throughput communication satellite, completing LVM3's qualification.
5 Jun 2017 · LVM3 · Success · First flight of the CE-20 engine
The first full LVM3, with its new CE-20 cryogenic engine, placed the 3,136 kg GSAT-19 in geosynchronous transfer orbit — the heaviest satellite launched from India at the time.
18 Dec 2014 · LVM3 · Success
The first LVM3 flew with live solid boosters and core stage but a dummy cryogenic stage, reaching 126 km. It released CARE, a prototype crew capsule, which re-entered and splashed down in the Bay of Bengal near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
LVM3 stands for Launch Vehicle Mark-3. It was originally called GSLV Mk III and renamed in 2022, partly because it shares little with the GSLV Mk II apart from the name.
Because it is ISRO's heaviest and most powerful rocket. The nickname, borrowed from the blockbuster film, became popular with the media around its first orbital flight in 2017.
No. All of its flights so far — from the 2014 suborbital test to the BlueBird launch in December 2025 — have been successful. Chandrayaan-2's lander was lost in 2019, but that happened at the Moon, weeks after LVM3 had done its job.
Yes. A human-rated version, HLVM3, with extra safety margins, redundant systems and a crew escape system, is being prepared to launch ISRO's Gaganyaan missions.
Related: All ISRO Rockets, Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan-3 Tracker, ISRO Missions Timeline.