For less than the cost of the Sandra Bullock movie Gravity, India proudly launched a spacecraft into orbit around the Red Planet on Wednesday morning.

The project, known as Mars Orbiter Mission, cost the country a mere $75 million- $600 million less than NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission.

MOM, as the project is known, launched into orbit after 24 tense minutes of burn time. The craft will circle Mars for six months, collecting scientific data with five solar-powered instruments that will evaluate Mars’ climate and search for signs of possible previous water on the planet’s surface.

India used homegrown technology and local scientists for the mission, which scientists have consistently praised for its effectiveness and accuracy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi proclaimed to a group of scientists at the Indian Space and Research Organisation in Bangalore, “We have gone beyond the boundaries of human enterprise and innovation.”

The project is a major accomplishment for India, a country whose vast majority lives in poverty but has developed a robust crop of engineers, scientists, and computer experts. It represents a leap forward into the elite class of space explorers such as the United States and Europe.

41 previous attempts to send spacecrafts to Mars have taken place, with 23 failing- most notably by Japan in 1999. The United States was the first to reach Mars in in 1964, with Russia following closely in 1971. The European Space Agency finally launched a successful mission in 2003.

While the project is a huge step forward for India, it’s also a great leap for scientists studying the Red Planet. With NASA’s Mars rover currently exploring Mt. Sharp, a large mountain believed to contain many layers of soil, space enthusiasts are overjoyed that data will soon be sent back from the rover. The rush to explore the mysterious Red Planet is on- and now India’s in the game as well.