Mars mission will mark beginning of glorious chapter: PM

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday wished success to the forthcoming Mars Orbiter programme, saying the mission will mark the beginning of a new glorious chapter for India in space explorations.[caption id="attachment_1351833" align="alignleft" width="380"] Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. PTI[/caption]The Prime Minister in his interaction with ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan and other project directors complimented the entire ISRO fraternity for their achievements including the successful launch of the GSLV programme."Those involved in space science research, the engineers, the scientists, they all make us feel very proud of the role that space scientists, space engineers are playing in ensuring that space technology becomes truly an instrument of national development and also our security concern to the extent that they require the support of the space program," he said."You are doing wonderfully well and I would like to compliment and congratulate each one of you and all those who are engaged in these nation building activities," Singh said.The Prime Minister stated that the successful launch of GSLV-D5 flight in January 2014 has been a "landmark achievement towards self reliance in the complex cryogenic technology that is paramount to launching heavier satellites from India, apart from establishing confidence in our GSLV programme".Singh credited ISRO technicians and scientists for making the country proud and said, "Space has become an instrument of national development in a manner which was never envisaged some 2-3 decades ago."PTI