India Has Sent a Spacecraft Into Mars Orbit

Indian spacecraft Mangalyaan (also called the Mars Orbiter Mission or MOM) entered Mars orbit at approximately 10.30 p.m. E.T. on Tuesday, making India the first Asian country to accomplish the feat.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is now the fourth space agency to have successfully completed a Mars mission — joining those of the U.S., Russia and Europe — and the South Asian nation is the only country to enjoy success on a maiden mission to Mars.

Another superlative: Mangalyaan has set a record for the cheapest Mars mission, costing just $67 million. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier claimed that it was less expensive than the Oscar-winning film Gravity, Indian news channel NDTV reported.

In comparison, NASA’s MAVEN, which entered Mars’ orbit a day earlier, cost 10 times as much.

ISRO announced the news of Mangalyaan with this tweet:

Modi was monitoring the mission’s progress at ISRO headquarters as the team behind Mangalyaan — which simply means “Mars craft” — broke into cheers. He commended the Indian scientists who worked on the mission.