All you need is money and access to the stars is not controlled by states alone. Yet, there is some romance lost, and arguably the quality of ambition diminished, from the time when Sharma stepped into space.
In the beginning, there was fiction. Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, first published in 1951, saw the perils of empire in a far future, across space. A decade later, when cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin escaped the Earth’s atmosphere, the cosmos became the “final frontier”, the subject of blockbusters and TV series. To be an astronaut or cosmonaut was the privilege of a few, and like love and happiness, it was something money couldn’t buy. It was also tied up with larger ideas: Exploration, Cold War ideologies and even national pride. The difference between the whys and hows of two space flights — of Indian Air Force officer Rakesh Sharma and Indian-born Gopi Thotakura — tell the tale of changing times, then and now.
“Squadron leader Rakesh Sharma has… displayed most conspicuous daring and courage to become the first Indian to go into space.” The citation for the Ashok Chakra awarded to the first Indian citizen — and as yet, the only one — acknowledged that, in 1984, it required bravery. That Sharma was a “cosmonaut”, that his flight into the great beyond was on a Soviet vessel, was also symptomatic of a geopolitical picture that seems so sepia-tinted today. Thotakura, an aviator and entrepreneur, became the first Indian-origin person to go on a private space flight earlier this week. He paid — the exact figure isn’t known, but reports suggest that the price might be around Rs 3.5 crore — to be on the “crew” of a Blue Origin flight. Blue Origin is the space tourism operation run by Jeff Bezos. While it might require some courage, it is more of the order of going on a roller coaster than exploring the unknown.
But before Thotakura’s ride is dismissed as a rich man’s vanity, it might do to realise that space travel, too, has been democratised. All you need is money and access to the stars is not controlled by states alone. Yet, there is some romance lost, and arguably the quality of ambition diminished, from the time when Sharma stepped into space.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 24-05-2024 at 06:50 IST
