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. 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. The Mars Orbiter Mission, known as "Mangalyaan" in India, was revealed only 15 months ago by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, shortly after China's attempt flopped.
Indian mission to Mars blasts off
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