India created history on Wednesday, becoming the first country to successfully get a
spacecraft into the Martian orbit on its maiden attempt.
Indian Space Research Organisation's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft started orbiting the red planet at
7.47am, but it was only 12 minutes later —because of a time delay in radio signals travelling the 680 million km --
that scientists at Isro Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network in Bangalore, could erupt in joy as Prime Minister
Narendra Modi stood a happy witness.
Mars Orbiter Mission: Timeline
For most of the time the main engine was firing — 20 of the 24 crucial minutes — MOM was hiding behind Mars,
adding to the suspense.
The scientists had waited for more than 300 days as MOM journeyed on through space, but the last 54 minutes were
virtually unbearable. For, it was during this period that the orbiter first reoriented itself and then fired its engine and
thrusters for about 24 minutes to get into the Mars orbit.
For all the action at the ground station, there was not much the scientists had to do. More than 10 days ago, they
had uplinked all the commands for the manoeuvres to the spacecraft. MOM, like an obedient child, carried them out
perfectly.
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