<i> India had a number of launch failures prior to this success, </i> If you are referring to a lunar satellite kind of mission, this is not true. "Chandrayan- I" is their very first shot at it. Even the launch vehicle (PSLV) has a very good track record. [http://www.isro.org/pslv-c11/brochure/Page10.htm] "During 1993-2008 period, PSLV had twelve consecutively successful launches carrying satellites to Sun Synchronous, Low Earth and Geosynchronous Transfer Orbits."

When it comes to hacking spirit, they are pretty good though: http://www.isro.org/newsletters/spaceindia/octdec2003/webpgs... [Transporting a Sounding Rocket nose cone on bicycle during the early days of ISRO]