Manmohan Singh, Abdul Kalam congratulate ISRO

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh and former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Wednesday congratulated ISRO for the success of its Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM).

"This event marks the culmination of a decade's worth of hard work. It's a glowing tribute to the ability of our scientists, and their unfailing efforts in making this mission a success," Manmohan Singh said in a statement.

"We are indeed humbled with the privilege of having been the government which piloted the Mangalyaan project," he said.

Former president Kalam said: "ISRO team is fantastic, was very happy last night (Tuesday) when I met them.

"They have achieved the Mars mission, as they planned. As a nation, we are the first nation to do the job," he said.

India Wednesday created space history by becoming the first country to enter the Martian orbit in its debut attempt.

A beaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wearing a red jacket symbolic of the Red Planet, described it as "achieving the near impossible".

He congratulated the feat of Indian scientists and called for challenging the next frontier.

India's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) traversed over 650 million km through deep space for over nine months to successfully reach the planet's orbit. The US, Europe and Russia had failed in their first attempts.

The MOM mission concept began with a feasibility study in 2010 during the Congress-led government.