In a small town in India’s heartland in 1969, an entire neighbourhood huddled around the radio, sipping tea and waiting for the moment that would change space science for ever.
A hush fell over the crowd as Neil Armstrong’s voice came in over heavy static — “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”
The room burst into applause as a controller at the Houston mission control radioed back — “You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue, we’re breathing again.”
Growing up, I never tired of listening to my father’s account of the day humans landed on the moon. He always added wistfully — “One day it will be an Indian walking on the moon.”
As India launched its unmanned moon mission Chandrayaan-1, what was considered an overambitious and daunting prospect back in 1969 does not seem unachievable any more.
