India successfully launched its first mini space shuttle on Monday as New Delhi's famously frugal space agency joined the global race to make rockets as reusable as airplanes.

The shuttle was reportedly developed on a budget of just $14 million, a fraction of the billions of dollars spent by other nations' space programs.

The Reusable Launch Vehicle, or RLV-TD, which is around the size of a minibus, hurtled into a blue sky over southeast India after its 7:00 am lift off.