India on Thursday became the fourth country to successfully achieve an unmanned docking in space, a feat seen as pivotal for future missions as New Delhi cements its place as a global space power.

India became the world's fourth nation to achieve the feat of space docking, a technological milestone that underscores its ambitions to expand its share of a rapidly growing $400-billion global space market.

Indian space agency Isro has for the first time successfully conducted space docking by joining together two small craft in space. The technology is essential for the country's future ambition to build an Indian space station and put a person on the Moon.

India docked two satellites in space Thursday, a key milestone for the country's dreams of a space station and a manned moon mission, the space agency said.

India became the world's fourth nation on Thursday to achieve the feat of space docking, a technological milestone that underscores its ambitions to expand its share of a rapidly growing $400-billion global space market.

The Indian Space Research Organization's twin SpaDeX satellites will try to dock in orbit on tonight at around 9:30 p.m. EST (0230 Jan. 9 GMT/0800 IST).

India postponed its first attempt to dock two SpaDex satellites in Earth orbit from Jan. 6 until Jan. 9, to allow more time for tests.

India postponed by a couple of days on Monday a highly-anticipated space docking experiment that would see it become the fourth country in the world to achieve a feat essential for expanding future deep space exploratory missions.