New Delhi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated the scientists for successfully launching India's maiden
winged reusable launch vehicle (RLV) as a technology demonstrator.
"Launch of India's first indigenous space shuttle RLV-TD is the
result of the industrious efforts of our scientists. Congrats to them," PM Modi said in a tweet.
He also added:
"We have successfully accomplished the RLV-TD mission. The lift-off was at 7.00 a.m. from the first launch pad here," ISRO director Devi Prasad Karnik told IANS after the shuttle returned to the Earth.
The 1.7-tonne RLV was launched from ISRO's spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, about 80 km northeast of Chennai off the Bay of Bengal coast.