To NASA’s ‘Namaste’, India’s Mangalyaan says ‘Howdy’ on Twitter
Mumbai: India’s Mangalyaan has created history by successfully placing its spacecraft in orbit around Mars. Congratulations, wishes and a sense of pride captivated Twitteratis as India became the first country in the world to succeed in such an inter-planetary mission in the maiden attempt itself.
Amid these interesting tweets, what caught our eye was NASA’s mission Curiosity interaction with our very own @MarsOrbiter on Twitter.
Read: India becomes first country in world to place aircraft in Mars' orbit in first attempt
NASA’s mission Curiosity was among the first to tweet to the account with a ‘Namaste’. "Namaste, @MarsOrbiter! Congratulations to @ISRO and India's first interplanetary mission upon achieving Mars orbit."
Namaste, @MarsOrbiter! Congratulations to @ISRO and India's first interplanetary mission upon achieving Mars orbit.
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) September 24, 2014
Our very own, @MarsOrbiter replied, “Howdy @MarsCuriosity ? Keep in touch. I'll be around.” NASA's 2014 Mars mission Maven also congratulated ISRO for the achievement.
Howdy @MarsCuriosity ? Keep in touch. I'll be around.
— ISRO's Mars Orbiter (@MarsOrbiter) September 24, 2014
The account @MarsOrbiter was created just as Mangalyaan entered the red planet’s orbit this morning. Mangalyaan is one of the top trends on twitter in India and is generating curiosity worldwide.
Read: Twitteratis salute ISRO as Mangalyaan successfully enters Mars orbit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was present to witness the milestone from the ISRO centre in Bangalore, also congratulated scientists in a series of tweets.
The odds, were stacked against us. Of the 51 missions, attempted across the world so far, a mere 21 had succeeded. But we have prevailed: PM
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) September 24, 2014
In his speech, Modi said the odds were stacked against "us with only 21 of the 51 missions to Mars being successful," but "we have prevailed."
Read: The men behind Mangalyaan
With the success of "Mangalyaan", India has become the first country in the world to go to Mars in the very first try. European, American and Russian probes have managed to orbit or land on the planet, but after several attempts.
Mars Orbiter Insertion was carried out automatically by commands loaded onto the spacecraft after its velocity was slowed down from 22.1 km per second to 4.4 km per second to be captured by the Martian orbit.
History is created & am glad to have witnessed it. Will never forget this day! Congrats to our scientists http://t.co/RNbacKjB5q #Mangalyaan
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 24, 2014