"Recovery operations by the coast guard are already on," said a spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organisation. "Everything has gone according to our plan."

The capsule recovery experiment, according to space agency chief Madhavan Nair, was a key test to plan for a mission to send a craft to orbit the moon and return in 2010.

The test also paves the way for manned trips to space, he said.

The capsule was launched on January 10 carrying four payloads, including India's locally built 680 kilogram (1,500 pound) remote sensing satellite named CARTOSAT-2, which was itself put into successful orbit.

The Indian Space Research Organisation has a budget of 36 billion rupees (850 million dollars) allotted by the government and also receives payment for launching satellites from other nations to fund civilian space research.

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