Jerusalem, Israel:
American astronaut Neil Armstrong passed away into the heavens, his explorations are legendary and he will remain as tall as the stars and moon. A man whose famous words 'one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind' has inspired several generations to take up space exploration as a career, including many in India.
It was in 1969 that Mr Armstrong stepped on to the moon surface, but till date he is spurring innovation even at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). It may not be an exaggeration to suggest that ISRO's birth in 1969 was precipitated because of the historic landing of the 'Eagle' on the lunar surface. Mr Armstrong also visited India soon after his historic moon landing and once again later in 1995.
For today's generation, Mr Armstrong could be the equivalent of Usain Bolt who won the hundred metre dash at the recent London Olympics. The American astronaut was also a winner of the race that spurred two Cold War nations erstwhile USSR and USA to race to the moon. That US won the very expensive race of landing a man on the moon is well-known. However, today ironically the American's have lost the capability to send astronauts into space after the Space Shuttle was retired last year.
Another big irony with a truly Indian connection is that Mr Armstrong brought back loads of moon rocks and lunar soil to Earth, even left his the imprint of his boots on the lunar surface and a flag that controversially 'fluttered' in the almost non-existent lunar atmosphere. But despite spending billions of dollars and having landed a dozen astronauts on the moon, playing and kicking lunar rocks, the Americans failed to find any evidence of water on the moon, for the Americans it remained a parched stellar body.
After having inspired a generation of Indian space technologists, Mr Armstrong's legacy had its greatest impact in India when India decided inter stellar space exploration was important. It was really left to India's maiden mission to the moon Chandrayyan-1 launched in 2008 at a cost of mere $ 100 million that the first ever clinching evidence of the presence of water on the moon was beamed back by the unmanned Indian satellite subsequently other missions by NASA confirmed presence of water ice on the moon. This discovery is important because without water colonizing the moon would have been impossibility.
Today, another legacy of Mr Armstrong's the Cold War era space race is now playing out over the Asian skies. Traditional regional rivals India and China are now locked in a seeming space race like never before. The only difference is that the Asian planetary goal is not the moon, but the planet of Mars.
While China has beaten India to almost every aspect in space conducting ahead of New Delhi its manned mission and even the moon mission, but Mars could be the space race where India could take a lead. In November 2011, the maiden Chinese orbitter to Mars called Yinghuo-1 being piggy backed on Russian satellite Phobos Grunt ended in disaster. This now gave India an opportunity to possibly march ahead of its traditional Asian rival with its newly announced $ 100 million 'Mangalyaan' mission an unmanned mission to the Red Planet slated for a 2013 launch.
Applauding from the side lines are planetary explorers and scientists who think this new space race being played out in Asia among traditional Sino-Indian rivals will hopefully give them many more tickets to chart territories where no man has ever gone before!
Neil Armstrong was a pioneer explorer of the 20 the century but his legacy is still having deep impact many decades later in the 21 st century in Asia as India and China battle it out to stake their claims over space.
It was in 1969 that Mr Armstrong stepped on to the moon surface, but till date he is spurring innovation even at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). It may not be an exaggeration to suggest that ISRO's birth in 1969 was precipitated because of the historic landing of the 'Eagle' on the lunar surface. Mr Armstrong also visited India soon after his historic moon landing and once again later in 1995.
For today's generation, Mr Armstrong could be the equivalent of Usain Bolt who won the hundred metre dash at the recent London Olympics. The American astronaut was also a winner of the race that spurred two Cold War nations erstwhile USSR and USA to race to the moon. That US won the very expensive race of landing a man on the moon is well-known. However, today ironically the American's have lost the capability to send astronauts into space after the Space Shuttle was retired last year.
Another big irony with a truly Indian connection is that Mr Armstrong brought back loads of moon rocks and lunar soil to Earth, even left his the imprint of his boots on the lunar surface and a flag that controversially 'fluttered' in the almost non-existent lunar atmosphere. But despite spending billions of dollars and having landed a dozen astronauts on the moon, playing and kicking lunar rocks, the Americans failed to find any evidence of water on the moon, for the Americans it remained a parched stellar body.
After having inspired a generation of Indian space technologists, Mr Armstrong's legacy had its greatest impact in India when India decided inter stellar space exploration was important. It was really left to India's maiden mission to the moon Chandrayyan-1 launched in 2008 at a cost of mere $ 100 million that the first ever clinching evidence of the presence of water on the moon was beamed back by the unmanned Indian satellite subsequently other missions by NASA confirmed presence of water ice on the moon. This discovery is important because without water colonizing the moon would have been impossibility.
Today, another legacy of Mr Armstrong's the Cold War era space race is now playing out over the Asian skies. Traditional regional rivals India and China are now locked in a seeming space race like never before. The only difference is that the Asian planetary goal is not the moon, but the planet of Mars.
While China has beaten India to almost every aspect in space conducting ahead of New Delhi its manned mission and even the moon mission, but Mars could be the space race where India could take a lead. In November 2011, the maiden Chinese orbitter to Mars called Yinghuo-1 being piggy backed on Russian satellite Phobos Grunt ended in disaster. This now gave India an opportunity to possibly march ahead of its traditional Asian rival with its newly announced $ 100 million 'Mangalyaan' mission an unmanned mission to the Red Planet slated for a 2013 launch.
Applauding from the side lines are planetary explorers and scientists who think this new space race being played out in Asia among traditional Sino-Indian rivals will hopefully give them many more tickets to chart territories where no man has ever gone before!
Neil Armstrong was a pioneer explorer of the 20 the century but his legacy is still having deep impact many decades later in the 21 st century in Asia as India and China battle it out to stake their claims over space.
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