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 on Thursday became the fourth nation in the world to achieve space docking, a technological milestone that underscores its ambitions to expand its share in the 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.

After bringing the two satellites as close as 3 meters to each other, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully completed the docking process of the SpaDeX satellites on Thursday, according to sources.