NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday successfully placed its Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) into the orbit of the Red Planet, becoming the first country to successfully get a spacecraft into the Martian orbit on its maiden attempt.
The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the scientists for their hard work terming it as a proud moment for the country.
India is the only country, to have succeeded in its very first attempt: PM @narendramodi.
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) September 24, 2014
I congratulate, all ISRO scientists, as well as, all my fellow Indians, on this historic occasion: PM @narendramodi
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) September 24, 2014
With the success of MOM also called Mangalyaan, India has joined the United States, European Space Agency and the former Soviet Union in the elite club of Martian explorers.
The mission plans to study the planet’s surface and scan its atmosphere for methane, which could provide evidence of some sort of life form.
