On 24 August 2023, an Indian English-language daily reported a national miracle with the words “Chandrayaan 3 makes a perfect touchdown, uplifts spirits of a billion, heralds arrival of a new lunar power”.
With this, India made history, while the world looked on with awe & envy. I couldn’t help marvelling at how far India’s space scientists have come. The humble journey started in 1963 when a bunch of Indian scientists carried a USA – made 715 kilograms Nike Apache, their first rocket, on a bullock cart. & look where we’re today!
I got reminded of the opening narration of the iconic sci-fi TV series, Star Trek, “To boldly go where no man has gone before”. & that summarises the scale of achievement by India’s space scientists.
It also brought back memories for me of 1984 when Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, Indian military pilot & cosmonaut, flew onboard Soyuz T-11, with two Soviet cosmonauts, to space. His conversation with then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi replayed in my mind as I watched the Chandrayaan 3 land.
“How does India look from outer space?” “Saare Jahan se achcha!”With India’s ‘footprint’ firmly on the Moon, our country does indeed look the best in the world.
I’m hopeful that India will soon reap the benefits of this super feat & that this will further strengthen space research. In my conversations with children, a couple of them admitted that they were inspired by this milestone while one of them felt emboldened to chart a future in the Indian space sector.
And now, our ISRO has successfully launched Aditya L1, India’s maiden solar mission. I keep my fingers crossed that with this ‘Surya Namaskar’, India will achieve the glory it rightly deserves!
