After a marathon 780-million-kilometre journey, India has not only arrived at Mars this week – it has entered the elite club of planetary explorers and kicked an Asian space race into high gear. By successfully going into orbit around Mars, India has become the first Asian nation in history to do so, says Pallava Bagla, one of India’s leading space exploration analysts. “We really consider this a nationalist mission since it is taking India to Mars,” Bagla told Yahoo Canada News in an interview.