India's first mission to Mars blasted off successfully on Tuesday, completing the first stage of an 11-month journey that could see New Delhi's low-cost space programme win Asia's race to the Red Planet. A 350-tonne rocket carrying an unmanned probe soared into a slightly overcast sky on schedule at 2:38 pm (0908 GMT), monitored by dozens of scientists at the southern spaceport of Sriharikota.
After 44 minutes, applause broke out in the tense control room as navigation ships in the South Pacific reported that the spacecraft had successfully entered orbit around Earth. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K. Radhakrishnan allowed himself a smile, slapped a colleague on the back and announced he was "extremely happy" that the first objective had been reached. At the end of this month, once enough velocity has been built up to break free from Earth's gravitational pull, "the great, long, difficult voyage will start" to Mars, he announced.
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