While the world was marveling Wednesday at India's successful first attempt to position an orbiter above Mars, for a relatively low cost of $74-million, the Mangalyaan spacecraft sent home its first images of the Red Planet.

An image released by the country's press information bureau depicts Mars' cratered and scarred surface and was released to the media hours after the country's space agency successfully inserted the Mars Orbiter Mission -- otherwise known as Mangalyaan -- into an elliptical orbit that will take the satellite as close as 365 kilometers (227 miles) from the planet and also swing it out to to about 80,000 kilometers (49,700 miles), as it collects data on the Martian atmosphere.

The image released Sept. 25 was taken when the orbiter was positioned about 7,300 kilometers (4,536 miles) from the planet's surface, according to a statement from the Indian Space and Research Organization, which added the digital data took at least 12 minutes to reach Earth.

The image includes an area approximately 376 meters (1,234 feet) wide.

The mission has already distinguished India as the first Asian country to reach Mars and the fourth nation to send an exploratory mission to the planet.

"India's Mars Orbiter Spacecraft successfully entered into an orbit around planet Mars today morning [Sept. 24] by firing its 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor along with eight smaller liquid engines ... With this operation, the spacecraft entered into an elliptical orbit around Mars," the ISRO said in a news release. "The events related to Mars Orbit Insertion progressed satisfactorily and the spacecraft performance was normal. The Spacecraft is now circling Mars in an orbit whose nearest point to Mars...is at 421.7 km and farthest point ... at 76,993.6 km. The inclination of orbit with respect to the equatorial plane of Mars is 150 degree, as intended. In this orbit, the spacecraft takes 72 hours 51 minutes 51 seconds to go round the Mars once."

The orbiter lifted off from Earth atop what the space agency calls its "workhorse" launch vehicle PSLV on Nov. 5, 2013.

Then, a couple days shy of a month later, on Dec. 1, the craft initiated a so-called Trans Mars Injection maneuver, with which the orbiter escaped the earth along a path that led it to its arrival at Mars.