In yet another addition to India's historic chapters, ISRO on Sunday successfully launched its 100th space mission, PSLV C21 rocket with two foreign satellites on its wing.
Prime Minister Manmohan witnessed the moment of the rocket launch along with other congregations.
"I'm delighted to witness the launch of PSLV-C21 carrying two foreign satellites. On behalf of all Indians, I congratulate the space fraternity. It is a milestone in our space programme," Singh said after the launch.
According to NDTV, The journey of PSLV C21 was scheduled for 9:51 am but was delayed by a few minutes as the scientists waited to clear out the space debris. On its journey to space, PSLV C21 carried two foreign satellites - a French Earth observation satellite Spot 6 and a Japanese micro satellite Proiteres into polar orbit.
The remote sensing satellites will send back pictures to India. Spot 6 is the heaviest foreign satellite ferried by the Indian satellites after Italy's Agile was dropped into orbit by PSLV in 2007.
With this mission a success ISRO has so far launched 29 foreign satellites into space. The PSLV C21 blast off was observed by invited guests from the government, media fraternities and the much delighted scientist community in the country.
"Almost every family in India has benefitted from one or the other spin offs from the space agency...touching lives and adding value to the aam admi has been the hallmark of the Indian space programme," K Radhakrishnan, Chairman of ISRO, said according to the news service.
The PSLV C21 cost ₹750 million. The successful launch of ISRO's 100th mission into space will make India a strong competitor to Spot -7 of French company Astrium SAS.
