News / Brèves Back to previous selection / Retour à la sélection précédente India’s Mars orbiter mission historic success 24 September 2014 (CRC)—At about 10:30 EDT Sept. 23 (the morning of Sept. 24 India time), the Indian Mars orbiter succeeded in going into orbit around Mars. This makes it the FIRST NATION EVER to achieve this feat on the first try! Modi was at the relevant control center in India. As reported by The Hindu, "India has created global history by becoming the first Asian nation to reach the Mars orbit in a space mission. The success is sweeter because this has been done in its maiden attempt. No other country that has attempted a mission to Mars has succeeded in reaching the planet on debut. So, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) can claim that it has done a shade better than accomplished space powers such as the United States and Russia in reaching Mars. ... Today, India’s Mars orbiter mission has shown that the Indian elephant has lumbered ahead of the Chinese red dragon. For the record, ISRO’s chairman Dr. K. Radhakrishnan has gone on record by saying, “We are not racing with anybody. We are racing with ourselves. We have to race to reach the next level of excellence.”