CHENNAI: Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched Indian Space Research Organisation’s 4.7-tonne GSAT-N2 satellite on Tuesday (Indian time), marking the first such launch by the billionaire businessman’s firm for India’s space agency.

Deployment of @NSIL_India GSAT-N2 confirmed pic.twitter.com/AHYjp9Zn6S

That the 4,700-kg satellite is bigger than the payload that India’s workhorse PSLV can carry, and that the European Space Agency’s Ariane did not have any immediate launch prompted Isro to look around for options.

In a field with only a few possible contenders, SpaceX with it successful Falcon9 model understandably stood out.

In a social media post at 12.39 am on Tuesday (Indian time), SpaceX confirmed the deployment of GSAT-N2 satellite.

Liftoff of GSAT-N2! pic.twitter.com/4JqOrQINzE