July 20,1969: "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." This immortal line spoken by an "American" captured the essence of human spirit like none other. The landing on moon was the culmination of years of hard-work and sacrifices, an ode to our never dying spirit, and the springboard to transcend previously perceived unconquered barriers, it infused hope, hope that anything was possible and that no dream was too big.
The first thing that comes to our minds, when we mention developing nations like India etc. is poverty, unemployment, and corruption. The future appears bleak, the path undecided. This in-spite of the fact that we have an army of hardworking middle-class men/women and a very favorable demographic dividend. What then could be the problem?
The answer it seems lies in the fact that we are afraid to dream big, ready to live in the shadows rather than striving for enlightenment. Space missions on the outset may appear very costly, but the long-term benefits accrued are tremendous. Finding water on moon may seem inconsequential to us, but space missions have been responsible for development of water-purifying technologies and other things which affect the common man on a large scale. They say mother is the necessity of all inventions, and space missions opened up new avenues, helping in development of technologies like wireless, communication and navigation. They say we have not progressed even after 65 years of independence, but according to me the world has been rendered a global village, where every man has been empowered by a cell-phone, something that became cheap and easily available only after the advent of space missions. Beside the cost argument seems redundant, because a Government allocates money for research, separate from other fields by taking into consideration its financial capabilities. Also space missions have become lot more collaborative in nature, in sync with mutual development, a far cry from the space race in the 1960's. Besides research is all about speculation, but we all know the significance of funds. Funds which propelled Columbus's ships which discovered America, and the world has never been the same.
Anybody can become a hero, a symbol of hope, and looking outside my window I can see images of people like Kalpana Chawla who became extra-ordinary due to their dangerous endeavors, endeavors for the benefit of humanity as a whole. For developing nations the byword is progress. Progress involves striving for excellence, even when the path seems unclear, for we know that the man who sets out for no-where generally gets there. And space missions are like a Pandora box, abound with glorious opportunities.
