India's first satellite, named after the homonymous Indian astronomer. Aryabhata was launched by India on 19 April 1975 using a Kosmos-3 M launch vehicle from Kapustin Yar, a Russian rocket launch and construction site in Astrakhan Oblast. This was designed by the Indian Space Research Organization. The launch came from a UR Rao-led agreement between India and Russia, which was signed in 1972. In return for launching Indian satellites, it allowed the USSR to use Indian ports to monitor ships and to launch vessels.
It was developed for studies in the fields of X-ray astronomy, aeronomy, and solar physics. The spacecraft was a 1.4-metre-diameter 26-sided polyhedron. Both faces were lined with solar cells. A power failure stopped experiments after four days, and 60 orbits with all of the spacecraft's signals lost after five days. Mainframe spacecraft remained operational until March 1981. On 11 February 1992 the satellite entered the atmosphere of Earth due to orbital decay.
