Letters | Could India’s moon landing signal a new power rivalry with China?
- Readers discuss the significance of India’s achievement, a joint space effort for Brics, and China Evergrande’s crisis
Indian Prime Minister Modi said the success of the mission “belongs to all of humanity”.
When American astronaut Neil Armstrong first landed on the moon, he said something similar. He said it was “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”.
Interestingly, however, the pursuit of lunar exploration often reflects an ambition to gain global influence.
To put things in their historical context, consider the Cold War rivalry between the United States and the now-defunct Soviet Union. Both nations demonstrated their desire for global supremacy by investing in space programmes. Although the USSR initiated the space race with the launch of Sputnik in 1957, the US would claim victory when Armstrong became the first human to walk on the lunar surface in 1969.