NEW DELHI (Sputnik) — The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C-34 carried India’s latest earth observation Cartosat-2 satellite along with US, German, Canadian and Indonesian satellites, as well as two satellites made by Indian students.
Kiran Kumar, head of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), congratulated all the scientists associated with the project on the successful launch.
"I would like to congratulate the ISRO team for the successful launch of PSLV C-34. All the five stages have been successful," Kumar said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated ISRO, saying that it "continues to break new barriers."
20 satellites in a go! @isro continues to break new barriers. Hearty congratulations to our scientists on the monumental accomplishment.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) 22 июня 2016 г.
According to the Indian leader, over the years, his country has developed "expertise and capability to help other nations in their space initiatives."
President Pranab Mukherjee also congratulated the ISRO scientists on the successful launch.
Dr. Ajay Lele, Senior Fellow at the Institute of Defense Studies and Analysis, told Sputnik that the launch is a "landmark achievement of ISRO" since there are few countries who have achieved the distinction of launching many satellites in one go.
"This is significant mission for India because they have launched 20 satellites in a single mission," Lele said.
The academic noted that some of the satellites were launched for Indian universities, which indicates that India’s next generation is getting ready for the satellite business.
"So this has both social as well as economic connotations," Lele concluded.
It is not the first time that ISRO has put multiple satellites into the orbit in a single launch. It launched 10 satellites at once in 2008.
#ISRO Launch of record 20 satellites is yet another indicator of India's growing space prowess. Congratulations to @isro & our scientists.
— Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) 22 июня 2016 г.
Congratulations to “pride of India” @isro & its team for creating history with successful launch of PSLV-C34 carrying record 20 satellites.
— Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (@naqvimukhtar) 22 июня 2016 г.
A day of great pride for India as #ISRO successfully launches PSLV C-34 placing a record of 20 satellites in space. pic.twitter.com/39Dn3v2p7A
— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) 22 июня 2016 г.
Proud of @isro for successfully launching 20 satellites into orbit. Keep making India proud
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) 22 июня 2016 г.
The world record for placing the highest number of satellites belongs to Russia, which put a total of 37 satellites atop a Dnepr rocket in 2014.
