India today successfully placed its Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) in the Red Planet’s orbit.
Following is the chronology of events that traces the journey of Mangalyaan which lasted over 300 days:
Nov 5, 2013: ISRO’s PSLV C25 launches India’s Mars Orbiter Mission from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
Nov 7: First Earth-bound manoeuvre performed.
Nov 8: Second Earth-bound manoeuvre performed.
Nov 9: Third Earth-bound manoeuvre performed.
Nov 11: Fourth Earth-bound manoeuvre performed.
Nov 12: Fifth Earth-bound manoeuvre performed.
Nov 16: Sixth Earth-bound manoeuvre performed.
Dec 1: MOM leaves Earth’s orbit, Trans-Mars Injection performed.
Dec 4: MOM leaves Earth’s Sphere of Influence of 9.25 lakh km radius.
Dec 11: First course correction manoeuvre performed on the spacecraft.
Jun 11, 2014: Second course correction manoeuvre executed.
Sep 22: MOM enters Mars’ Gravitational Sphere of Influence; 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor test-fired after over 300 days of dormancy; last trajectory correction manoeuvre performed.
Sep 24: MOM reaches the intended orbit around Mars, making India the first country in the world to have successfully launched its mission to the Red Planet on the very first attempt.