Mangalyaan triumph: Some interesting facts you should know

India's mission to Mars - Mangalyaan - is now a success. The country created history on Wednesday, becoming the first to successfully get a spacecraft into the Martian orbit in its maiden attempt.

Addressing the country on the occasion from the ISRO headquarters, Prime Minister Modi said it was a proud and historic moment for every single Indian.

"Through your hardwork you have made it possible to achieve the impossible. History has been created and with today's success, India is the only country to succeed in its very first attempt," he said.

Following are some interesting facts about India's Mars Mission:

• After Wednesday's success, India has become the fourth country to place a probe in the Martian orbit.
• So far, only the US, Europe and Russia have successfully sent missions to the Red planet.
• Before India, different countries have launched Mars missions, but out of the 51 attempts, only 21 have been successful.
• India's $72 million Mars orbiter is the cheapest interplanetary mission ever. Earlier, PM Modi had said that India's Mars mission cost less than what it took to make the famous Hollywood space movie "Gravity."
• Over the next 6 months, Mangalyaan will study the mineral composition on Mars and also look for the presence of methane, a chemical key to life on Earth.
• The Mangalyaan will send its first set of pictures by Wednesday afternoon.
• The orbiter, after a 300-day flight, has covered a distance of 680 million kilometres to reach the Red Planet's orbit.
• Within the first fours hours of launching its Twitter account, @MarsOrbiter had more than 32,000 followers.
• Also, #Mangalyaan, #IndiaAtMars, #marsorbitormission and Martian were among the top 10 Twitter trends in India.
• Mangalyaan was launched from the Sriharikota space centre on 5 November 2013.
• The MOM mission in Mars orbit is open-ended and is expected to last about 160 days (March 3, 2015) .