The rightful celebrations of India’s Chandrayaan-3 soft landing occupy much of the media, live, electronic, and print. What a glorious feat indeed to land on the dark side of the moon, which many have attempted without any success. Regardless of the advent of space and rocket technologies like sending satellites into the earth’s orbit or rockets farther, a landing on the moon is critical, as a scientifically advanced Russian effort ended in an implosion even as our Chandrayaan 3 was in the moon’s orbit.
My congratulations to the ISRO team, who seem like next-door friends in any middle-income neighbourhood. They seemed like ordinary commuters on state transport buses—those whom you cross each day in the vegetable market, sharing an auto-rickshaw to your workplace—who meet in religious places, praying with their eyes closed.
The scientists of ISRO were plain and simple ordinary folks who had not learned the marketing skills of high-pitched victory speeches, opening champagne bottles, wetting their frugal dresses—saris in particular—or clinking their wine glasses in jubilation. The philosophical acceptance of their mission, which went perfectly as scripted and fit to the T, with a soft landing at the designated place, reflected the true India ethos.
I recall the earlier ISRO chief crying on the shoulders of our PM Modi when the earlier mission, Chandrayaan-2, failed, crashing on the moon’s surface and crashing the hopes of a billion Indians. The failure had a positive side: the steely resolve of the scientists to understand and analyse the causes of the failure and rectify them in the current mission. The few final moments of the landing kept a nation, including India’s detractors, nail-biting. What a landing it was, like a perfect ballerina taking a final bow after the show. Congratulations, dear scientific community.
There were dignified claps and short speeches after crossing this marvellous milestone. The adrenaline-charged scientists who have dared to dream of even greater challenges, including exploring the sun from a closer permissible distance, I cannot end without commenting on the politicians’ role in claiming credit for the space successes. It reminds me of John F. Kennedy’s famous words: “Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.”
Chandrayaan-3 is just the beginning of transforming India into a truly technologically developed nation.
Jai Hind.
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
