Sriharikota: India's first navigation satellite was successfully placed in orbit by an Indian rocket Monday midnight in copy book style.

With the successful launch of the first of the seven satellites planned under the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), India took the first step in joining the select group of nations having such a system.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K.Radhakrishnan said with the successful launch of the satellite, India had entered "a new era of space applications".

Exactly at 11.41 p.m., the rocket - Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C22 (PSLV-C22) - standing around 44 metres tall and weighing around 320 tonnes roared off, turning the dark skies bright orange.

"We have had late evening and early morning launches. But this is the first time ISRO is launching a rocket around midnight," an ISRO official told IANS.

The expendable rocket had a single but important luggage, the 1,425 kg IRNSS-1A navigation satellite.

Blasting off from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here, around 80 km from Chennai, to the onlookers, the rocket looked like an inverted flare or torch with a long handle as it ascended towards the twinkling stars amidst the cheers of the gathered scientists and media persons.

ISRO scientists at new rocket mission control room were glued to their computer screens watching the rocket escaping the Earth's gravitational pull. At around 20 minutes into the flight, PSLV-C22 spat out IRNSS-1A.

Immediately on the successfully ejection, scientists at the mission control centre were visibly relieved and started clapping happily.

"I am extremely happy we had another excellent flight of our PSLV vehicle," Radhakrishnan said, adding it was the 23rd successful flight of PSLV and 4th of the XL variant, terming it an "extremely reliable vehicle".