In a live stream on CNN today, India attempted something only three countries in the world's history had previously attempted: landing a powered research craft on the surface of the moon. Millions of dollars, hundreds of hours, and endless research. All culminating in a mission to land on the Moon's polar surface. A mission that ended when the lander stopped transmitting little more than a mile from the surface. This unfortunate twist right at the end turned a country's jubilation into despair. From America to India, I have but one thing to say.
Don't give up.
America has a long history of trying (and failing) to reach space. One has only to flip casually through the Wikipedia article on our space race with then-rival, the U.S.S.R., to see how often we failed, even after we succeeded. We failed with the Vanguard rocket program eight separate times, most notably when one exploded mere seconds after launch. We failed with Challenger, when it broke apart before making orbit, killing everyone aboard while being broadcast on live television. And that wasn't even the first time we'd lost people in space missions. If you look back to the beginning of the Moon project, we failed horribly with the first Apollo fire, and it took us ten more tries after that to reach the Moon. The NASA Space Program is something that we learn about from a young age, a part of our culture and heritage we are proud of despite the loss of life attached to it. Americans are well aware of the danger and the costs of space exploration.
That didn't stop us, and it shouldn't stop India, either.
America took the problems, the challenges, and the disasters, and grew from them. We refocused, determined to Instead, it will galvanize another generation of young people, people determined to use this as a springboard to launch humanity into space once more. India is an international power, and it is capable of doing this. The people of India want to reach for the stars just as much as the people of America did in the fifties. And I believe they're more than capable of it.
The Chandrayaan 2 mission is not a failure. It's an inspiration.
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