"I greet ISRO and its partners for this joint work," he said.

He said transporting electronic voting machines to an inaccessible village in Assam on elephant back and colloboration with Russia to make Brahmos missiles were other such examples.

Indian society should progress from industrial society to knowledge-based society to fulfil 2020 millennium targets for which a "beautiful and creative mind" is necessary, Kalam said.

He said there is a need to integrate "core competencies" between countries through a world knowledge platform. The countries can collaborate in fields of health, water, energy, agriculture, knowledge products, disaster management and transportation systems, the former President said.

One such platform, Pan Africa network which he had proposed in 2004 is already in progress, he said adding that V-Sat connection will join the 53 countries of Africa with India.

earlier related report
Parliament congratulates ISRO scientists
The Parliament has congratulated space scientists for the successful launch of PSLV-C9, which put a record 10 satellites into orbit. "The precision with which the mission was accomplished made me feel extremely proud of the achievement by our space scientists which will go down in the history of the Indian space research as a major milestone," Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said in the House.

"I am sure, you all will join me in congratulating the entire team of scientists, technologists and the staff of ISRO who have made this mission a success," he said.

Chatterjee said he watched the historic launch on the national broadcaster.

In the Rajya Sabha, Chairman Hamid Ansari said the PSLV launch was yet another glorifying chapter in the success story of the space programme.

"We congratulate scientists and engineers of ISRO who worked on this project," Ansari said.

Rajya Sabha member Kasturirangan, a former Chairman of ISRO, also came up for special praise from Ansari.

Related Links
Launch Pad at Space-Travel.com