President A P J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister A B Vajpayee have congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation team for successfully placing 'Resourcesat-1', the country's most sophisticated and heaviest remote sensing satellite, through the indigenous Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

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ISRO Chairman Madhavan Nair told reporters soon after the successful launch at 1022 hours IST that both the President and prime minister had congratulated the team on the achievement.

"They were highly impressed with the performance of the team on today's launch, describing the event as a remarkable achievement," Nair said.

Union Minister of State for Space Sathyavratha  Mukherjee, who was present at the launch, said the mission would be of 'tremendous help to the nation to tap its resources'.

Congratulating the ISRO team, he called upon them to continue the good work.