India shoots into star wars club, becomes 4th nation to test A-Sat

India test-fired the three-stage interceptor missile from the APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast at 11.10am. A little over an hour later, PM Narendra Modi announced the success of ‘Mission Shakti’ in a televised address to the nation. The 18-tonne missile, with two solid rocket boosters, tore into space to hit the 740-kg satellite, flying in a low earth orbit (LEO), bang in the middle barely three minutes after its launch over the Bay of Bengal.