India ? India on Wednesday launched a rocket carrying a satellite designed to test re-entry vehicle technology that could be used in a future manned space mission.

The red-and-white rocket climbed into space from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to the cheers of scientists and engineers at mission control.

The rocket also put the first Indonesian-built satellite into space, Indonesian officials said.

“It is a great day for the country. We have done it and done it correctly. The mission is a success,” said G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization.

India has not announced specific plans for a manned space mission, but an unmanned moon mission is scheduled for 2008.

The rocket carried the 1,210-pound Space Capsule Recovery Experiment, or SRE-1, designed to test re-entry technology, the ISRO said.

The capsule will orbit Earth for 13 to 30 days before re-entering the atmosphere and plunging into the Bay of Bengal off India’s east coast, where it will be recovered, the statement said. It will test technology for “navigation, guidance and control during the re-entry phase.”

SRE-1 will also carry out experiments involving microgravity conditions.