India’s Mars Mission, Mangalyaan, successfully lifted off from the Sriharikota Spaceport in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, putting the country in a small club of nations that have sent rockets to the Red Planet. At Rs 450 crore, it is possibly the cheapest ever Mars mission in history after adjusting for inflation and dollar prices.

Be that as it may, it must be recorded as a major milestone in India’s space programme, even though the moment of truth will be when it will reach Mars and attempt to orbit it sometime in September 2014.