Consider the following statements.

The Mangalyaan launched by ISRO

1. is also called the Mars Orbiter Mission.

2. made India the second country to have a spacecraft orbit the Mars after USA.

3. made India the only country to be successful in making its spacecraft orbit the Mars in its very first attempt.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

The correct answer is 1 and 3 only.

Let us analyze each statement carefully to understand why statements 1 and 3 are correct, while statement 2 is incorrect.

Statement 1: Mangalyaan is also called the Mars Orbiter Mission.

This statement is correct. "Mangalyaan" is a Sanskrit-derived name where "Mangal" (मंगल) means Mars and "Yaan" (यान) means vehicle or craft. The mission's official name given by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM). Both names refer to the same spacecraft, and they are used interchangeably in scientific and popular literature. The spacecraft was launched on 5 November 2013 and successfully entered Mars orbit on 24 September 2014.

Statement 2: Mangalyaan made India the second country to have a spacecraft orbit Mars after the USA.

This statement is incorrect. India was not the second country to orbit Mars. Before India, three space agencies had already successfully placed spacecraft in Martian orbit:

1. USA (NASA) – Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit Mars in 1971.
2. USSR (Soviet Union) – Mars 2 and Mars 3 orbiters also reached Mars in 1971.
3. European Space Agency (ESA) – Mars Express successfully entered Mars orbit in December 2003.

Therefore, when India's Mangalyaan entered Mars orbit in 2014, India became the fourth space agency (after USA, USSR/Russia, and ESA) to have a spacecraft orbit Mars — not the second. This makes Statement 2 factually wrong.

Statement 3: Mangalyaan made India the only country to be successful in making its spacecraft orbit Mars in its very first attempt.

This statement is correct and is one of the most celebrated achievements of the mission. Prior to India's success, many Mars missions by other countries had failed on their first attempts. The historical context is as follows:

- The USSR failed in multiple early Mars attempts before finally succeeding.
- The USA also had early mission failures (e.g., Mariner 3 failed) before Mariner 4 succeeded in a flyby.
- Japan's Nozomi mission (1998) failed to enter Mars orbit.
- China and Russia's joint Yinghuo-1/Phobos-Grunt mission (2011) failed to even leave Earth orbit.

India, with the Mars Orbiter Mission, became the first and only country in the world to successfully place a spacecraft in Martian orbit on its very first attempt. This was a landmark achievement, making ISRO the most cost-efficient and technically precise space agency to accomplish this feat on a debut mission.

Conclusion: Statement 1 is correct (Mangalyaan = Mars Orbiter Mission). Statement 2 is incorrect (India was the 4th space agency, not the 2nd, to orbit Mars). Statement 3 is correct (India is the only country to succeed on its first attempt). Therefore, the answer is 1 and 3 only.