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At 4 a.m. this morning, scientists at the Isro Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) were an anxious lot as they pondered the fate of their three-year-old dream. Hundreds of space scientists and officials from across the offices of Isro gathered at ISTRAC were busy tracking the final movements of the Mars spacecraft - MOM, aka Mangalyaan.
At 4.17 a.m., when the spacecraft switched over to the medium gain antenna for receiving and emitting radio signals and when the main engine burn started around 7.17 am, they finally breathed easy, assured after these two critical processes went off without a hitch that the mission was on its way to success.
Around 7 a.m., a red jacket-wearing Prime Minister Narendra Modi trooped in with Karnataka Governor Vajubhhai Vala to join the gaggle of scientists to witness the proceedings. Perhaps cognizant of the impending success, Modi stayed calm and keenly observed the developments, along with Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, who had arrived an hour earlier.
Also present were Union ministers H N Ananth Kumar, D V Sadananda Gowda, former Isro chairman U R Rao and a smattering of retired and serving scientists.
At 8.01 am, when the spacecraft (Orbiter) successfully entered the Martian orbit with its payload about 515 km from the surface of the red planet, and 215 million km away from the earth in radio distance, the room erupted in joy as scientists led by Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) Chairman K Radhakrishnan applauded the momentous event.
Modi, too, joined them and congratulated Radhakrishnan and each and every scientist involved in the Mars Mission.
“History has been created today by the Indian scientists reaching Mars in the very first attempt. India is the only and first country to have succeeded in the very first attempt,” Modi said in his congratulatory speech.
Indian scientists, through their hard work and dedication, have stretched the boundaries of human enterprise and imagination, he added.
Modi described the Mars Orbiter Mission as an indigenous pan-Indian effort, stretching from Bangalore to Bhubaneswar, and Faridabad to Rajkot.
“Hunger of exploration and the thrill of discovery are not for the faint-hearted,” the PM said, adding that scientists should set even more challenging targets for themselves.
He said Modern India must continue playing its role of Jagadguru Bharat, Loosely translated, that means 'India, Teacher to the World', an epithet the country can claim to have earned with a Mars mission that was executed on a budget less than some Hollywood productions, and the only one to make it on the first try.
