India’s Space Research Organization has successfully launched 8 satellites in two different orbits in a first ever payload launch of the kind.

Mashable reports that the entire mission took 25 days since the team experienced many unprecedented  challenges.  The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle –C35 had to be re-ignited a second time after its first placement, since the satellites had to be injected into two different orbits.

The SCATSAT-1, weighing 818 pounds, was one of the eight satellites to be launched. It is designed to study weather and can last in space for as many as five years. The other seven include two developed by Indian universities —PES University in Bangalore, and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay — 3 from Algeria and one each from the U.S. and Canada.