India's first satellite was launched on this day
India's first satellite, Aryabhata, built by the Indian Space Research Organisation, was launched on April 19, 1975, by the Soviet Union. Weighing 360 kg and built to conduct experiments in X-ray astronomy, aeronomics, and solar physics, Aryabhata re-entered the Earth's atmosphere in 1992. The satellite was named after an Indian mathematician-astronomer who is believed to have discovered 'zero'. 