Scientists hail successful launch of Mangalyaan

India's maiden mission to Mars was successfully launched  with its polar rocket placing the Mars spacecraft precisely into an intended Earth orbit in its first-ever historic inter-planetary odyssey in a bid to join a select band of nations. In a "new and complex mission design", ISRO's PSLV C 25 successfully injected the 1,350-kg 'Mangalyaan' Orbiter ('Mars craft' in Hindi) into the orbit around Earth some 44 minutes after a text book launch at 2.38 PM from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota (AP), marking the successful completion of the first stage of the Rs 450 crore mission.