Indians in Space!

"You haven't lived until you've done the Karma Sutra in Zero-G, baby!"

That's right, India's headed to the Moon!

...And that's not all! The Indian Space Research Organisation (or Bhāratīya Antariksh Anusandhān Sangaṭn, for short) hopes to land a motorized rover on the moon in 2010 or 2011. A real life astronaut might get thrown into the atmosphere on an Indian rocket by 2014 (Punjabi Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian in space when hitched a ride with the Russians in 1984). So, who'll be the first Asians on the moon for the Space Race Part II?


An early foray into South Asian spaceflight: Vishnu and Lakshmi riding Garuda, the Hindu patron deity of flight.

Any why? The London Telegraph's Andrew McKie puts it best:

But why would any country not be proud of attempting to add to our knowledge of the universe? For any nation, launching a rocket should not be seen as an exercise in pointless one-upmanship, but as perhaps the ultimate expression of optimism, ingenuity, bravery, and rational, long-term planning for the future. The West would do well to recover some of these qualities, which seem now to be attributes of Asian countries.