Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated scientists for the successful launch of the PSLV C23 rocket carrying five foreign satellites at the Satish Dhawan space centre in Sriharikota and said India's Mars mission is cheaper than the hit Hollywood movie 'Gravity'.
Modi witnessed the PSLV launch at Sriharikota. The indigenous PSLV C23 rocket, carrying five satellites, including French Earth observation satellite SPOT 7, will place all five satellites on intended orbit around Earth.
'Gravity,' a 3D thriller about two stranded astronauts floating through space, set a box office record. The film stars Oscar winners Sandra Bullock and George Clooney and wowed critics with its special effects. In 'Gravity,' Bullock plays a novice astronaut and engineer alongside Clooney as a mission commander.
After an accident caused by flying debris, the pair are sent hurtling into space with depleting oxygen and remote chances of returning to Earth. Critics raved about the visual effects in the film, which cost close to $100 million to make and reproduced space and zero gravity in ways never seen on screen.
"We are proud that our programme is indigenous. Generations of scientists have worked to make India a self-reliant space power. Technology has a critical role in realizing the vision of a Digital India - the power of 125 crore connected Indians. Such technology is fundamentally connected with the common man. As a change agent, it can empower and connect, to transform his life," the PM said.
"This Sadhna you have done in the lab has the power to change the lives of millions of people. Our ancestors had conceived of ideas like 'Shunya' and 'flying objects', long before others. Our space journey has come a long way from the humble beginning," he said and added truly, this is a global endorsement of our space capability. (With inputs from Reuters)
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