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Updated: Mar 27, 2019 15:17 IST

Former ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan said he was proud that the country successfully demonstrated anti-satellite missile capability and termed it a crucial step. (Follow live updates here)

“All I can say is it’s a very, very great event,” Kasturirangan said on Wednesday.

“And we are all proud that we have taken the next step in the space, a very critical, crucial and probably a very difficult step to have taken successfully,” he said.

Read: In 3 minutes, a satellite 300 km away was destroyed in Mission Shakti , says PM Modi

In an unprecedented broadcast to the nation on television, radio and social media, PM Modi on Wednesday announced that India had demonstrated anti-satellite missile capability by shooting down a live satellite. He described it as a rare achievement that puts the country in an exclusive club of space super powers.

“India has successfully tested the Anti-Satellite (ASAT) Missile. Congratulations to everyone on the success of #MissionShakti,” the prime minister tweeted later.

He said the action was not directed against any country and the satellite was a pre-determined target orbiting at an altitude of 300 km .