India is Celebrating  the successful launch of its unmanned
spacecraft the Chandrayaan 2.
And it's not just the scientists that are celebrating
people back home just love the mission.
And I'm absolutely excited about it too.
If the mission succeeds India will become the fourth
country to have had a successful landing on the moon.
So far it has only been the US Russia
and China that have had successful lunar landings.
Questions of pride are at stake for India as this launch
is tied up with its perception in the world.
Today is a historical day
for space and science and technology in India.
People around the country are cheering signs that India is
now ready to compete internationally when it comes to
space.
For decades Indian rocket launches meant bringing low
cost satellites into the space for foreign countries.
From time to time India also sent up some scientific
research missions. The Indian moon mission was already
approved by 2008 and by 2009 the
designs were also there.
So what took it so long.
It's been a decade after all.
Actually the Indian moon mission was supposed to take place
in collaboration with Russia.
The Russian space agency was supposed to design and make
the lander but it never did.
It kept delaying from 2013 to 2015 and finally
ISRO, that is the Indian Space and Research Organization,
decided to make everything on its own.
And that's the reason that it's a matter of prestige for
the Indian scientists that everything absolutely everything
right from the scratch was made by them.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi the budget for space
missions has almost doubled.
He wants to ensure that India becomes a space power.
He has even invested in anti satellite weapons.
And in this trip to the moon.
And by 2022 he's promising another milestone, the first
manned mission to the moon which will be called the
Gaganyaan.
With India poised to become the fifth largest economy in
the world Prime Minister Narendra Modi is eager to show the
world that India has expertise in security and technology.
But there's criticism of the launch as well.
And most of it focuses on the question of money.
And that is despite this launch being considered
very cheap when it comes to space exploration.
The Chandrayaan 2 is estimated to have cost 140
million dollars. In comparison the United States
had spent today's equivalent of 100
billion dollars on its 15 Apollo missions in the
1960s and the 1970s.
Even as India spends on its space missions, millions
of people remain in poverty in the country and
that is why critics ask that the sums that are being used
in its research and in the hope of elevating its prestige
could rather be spent down here on earth instead.
At any rate, all eyes are sure to be on the sky for the
Indian moon landing in September.
Is the mission worth it? What it what do you think, do tell
us in the comments section.
