India’s Mars-bound spacecraft has crossed the moon’s orbit on its way to the red planet, space agency officials said today.

“The Mangalyaan is now travelling beyond the moon into deep space, a distance of more than 536,000 kilometres,” a senior Indian Space Research Organisation spokesperson, DP Karnik, said.

“It’s the first time that an Indian craft has been sent into deep space.”

India’s first inter-planetary mission comes five years after the country sent a probe to the moon.

The craft was launched on Nov 5 and left Earth’s orbit on Sunday on a 300-day voyage to Mars.

The space agency said the US$80 million mission was meant to demonstrate India’s technological capabilities, both in reaching Mars and carrying out meaningful scientific research.

The craft carries a 25kg payload of instruments and imaging equipment that will study the atmosphere and surface of Mars. It will not land on the surface of the planet.

- dpa