This day in space historyMissions & Spacecraft
On November 5, 2013, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched its first spacecraft bound for Mars, the Mars Orbiter Mission. A PSLV rocket lifted it off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. An orbiter circles a planet instead of landing on it, and this one entered orbit around Mars on September 23, 2014.
India reached Mars orbit on its very first attempt. That made ISRO only the 4th space agency in the world to do so. The mission is also known as Mangalyaan.
4th
Space agency to orbit Mars