ISRO wishes luck to Akshay and team for Mission Mangal

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has extended best wishes to Bollywood star Akshay Kumar and his "Mission Mangal" team after the first trailer of the movie was released recently.

The movie also features Vidya Balan, Taapsee Pannu, Sonakshi Sinha, Nithya Menon, Kirti Kulhari and Sharman Joshi.

The official Twitter handle of the premier space agency, which is gearing up for India's second mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-2, on Friday praised the film for its portrayal of ISRO team.

"#MissionMangalTrailer beautifully shows the glimpses of emotions and passion with which #TeamISRO works," read the tweet.

"As #ISRO prepares for landmark launch of #Chandrayaan2, #TeamISRO wishes @akshaykumar all the best for #MissionMangal and all his future endeavour," it said in another tweet.

In "Mission Mangal", Akshay plays the role of a scientist, who along with fellow colleagues spearheads India's mission to send a spacecraft to orbit Mars.

The film, directed by Jagan Shakti, is based on real-life scientists, who contributed to India's first interplanetary expedition, Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), launched by ISRO in 2013.

Responding to ISRO's tweet, Akshay wished the space agency best of luck for Chandrayaan 2, which was earlier set to lift off on July 15 but was called off due to a "technical snag" in its most powerful rocket. It will be now launched on July 22.

"Thank you so much and wishing best of luck once again to #TeamISRO for #Chandrayaan2" he wrote in a post.

"Mission Mangal", produced by Cape of Good Films, Hope Productions and Fox Star Studio, is scheduled to be released on August 15.