India's most trusted rocket, the PSLV, has experienced something unprecedented: back-to-back failures in May 2025 and January 2026, both involving mysterious third-stage anomalies. With a 92% success rate built over three decades, these consecutive setbacks mark uncharted territory for ISRO. Host Anirban Chowdhury speaks to TOI’s space journalist Chethan Kumar to break down the technical failures, examines whether the agency is overstretched by ambitious missions like Gaganyaan, discusses implications for commercial launches and the upcoming private-sector PSLV debut, and questions why ISRO has departed from transparency by withholding failure reports. As India's space ambitions grow, can its workhorse rocket regain its legendary reliability?
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