Mars mission: Ex-President Kalam lauds ISRO scientists

Former President A.P.J Abdul Kalam on Wednesday praised ISRO scientists for their unique feat of making India as the first nation to insert a spacecraft into Mars orbit.

"Of course it is a unique moment because first time they have done. In the world as a first single nation India has done it. It is a very important milestone not only space programme, but the whole country," Kalam said here.

"We are also the first nation in the world to do the job on insertion on putting the spacecraft into Mars. According to me it needs lot of preparation, lot of experience, lot of knowledge so I was very happy yesterday night when I saw all the team members," he added.

" I met nearly 200 scientists of space team and they were very confident, very sure what is going to happen. That comes out of knowledge that comes out of experience that comes out experience of so many programmes that they have done," he further added.

The former President also said that the message which the Mars Orbiter Programme (MoM) programme sends was to defeat the problem and succeed which all should imbibe.

"As a nation particularly for scientific community a big lesson they have learnt, one unique quality we should all acquire, any work or big mission you do there will be some problem that will come, but you should not make a problem of your captain. You should become the captain of the problem, defeat the problem and succeed. This is the culture, ISRO's culture," he added.

Earlier today, ISRO scientists successfully test-fired the mission's main engine.

Given the high rate of failures, only 21 out of 51 missions sent to Mars by various countries have been successful, and the success of India's Mars orbiter Mission in the very first shot will boost her global standing in space.

Mangalyaan is primarily a technological mission and has been configured to carry out observation of physical features and the atmosphere of Mars.

The Mars Orbiter Mission affectionately called "MOM" was India's first inter-planetary mission launched on November 5, 2013 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

Mangalyaan has been on a 300-day marathon covering over 670 million kilometers.