India becomes the fourth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon

epsilonneighbor@lemmy.world to World News@lemmy.world – 268 points –
India becomes the fourth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon
apnews.com
10

This is the best summary I could come up with:


NEW DELHI (AP) — India on Wednesday landed a spacecraft near the moon’s south pole, an uncharted territory that scientists believe could hold vital reserves of frozen water and precious elements, as the country cements its growing prowess in space and technology.

A lander with a rover inside touched down on the lunar surface at 6:04 local time, sparking cheers and applause among the space scientists watching in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru.

After a failed attempt nearly four years ago, India made history by becoming the first country to touch down near the little-explored south pole region and joins the United States, the Soviet Union and China in achieving a moon landing.

Russia’s head of the state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos attributed the failure to the lack of expertise due to the long break in lunar research that followed the last Soviet mission to the moon in 1976.

Thousands prayed Tuesday for the success of the mission with oil lamps on the river banks, temples and religious places, including the holy city of Varanasi in northern India.

A successful moon mission dovetails with Modi’s image of an ascendant India asserting its place among the global elite and would help bolster his popularity ahead of a crucial general election next year.


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All while one of their ethnic minorities faces genocidal sectarian violence.

Acting like all countries in the world only have one side, good or bad and nothing in the middle.

Did I say that? I’m offering the other side as counterbalance. I also think that reporting on the violence in Manipur is a bit more important than talking about them investing in something several other countries have done (when this investment could be used to address rampant malnutrition in the country).

If this space program results in novel tech then I’d be a bit more into focusing on it but from my knowledge it hasn’t and comes across more as a PR program. A way to stick a good headline amongst all the horrific things happening there.

I don't see the value of space stuff right now and don't understand why humanity has a hard on for it so much.

Eventually, yes. For now, I'd prefer a focus on world peace and fixing the climate.

THEN, once humanity is standing strong and our own earth is taken care of, move on to space.

Counterarguments will not take into account the (im)practicality of space faring and what it can offer to our species. Sure, some of us may colonize mars eventually, but the billions on earth will still be on earth. And the earth is worth salvaging and in a much better place to salvage than fucking mars.

I'm not saying we shouldn't have research into space, just that we should temper the investment to match the return we get, for now. Going to the moon is not an example of tempered investing. Of course, that said, I don't blame India for doing it. I just personally find it impractical and ineffective.

Mate globally we invest piss fucking all into Space. The investment is already so tempered it’s almost nonexistent.

Every country is doing horrible things.

It’s nice to see some positive pop up in the news cycle every once in a while.

Right, that's a perfectly legitimate reason for why we should simply ignore any human rights offenses and should give praise to dictatorships all around the world. /s

Ah, you may leave here for four days in space
But when you return, it's the same old place
The poundin' of the drums, the pride and disgrace