Space, the Final Frontier

When it comes to feats in space, India is among the best. Mangalyaan got into Mars’ orbit on the first attempt, something nobody else managed on their first try. Not the Americans, not the Russians, not the Chinese. More recently, we put the maximum number of satellites in orbit with one launch: over a hundred, almost 3 times the previous record!

And, as it turns out, our guy didn’t goof up his memorable line from space. When Rakesh Sharma, India’s first astronaut in space, was asked how India looked from space, he replied:

“Saare jahan se achcha.”

Sure, you say, that was a rehearsed answer. Of course, it was. But do you think Neil Armstrong didn’t have his first line from the moon rehearsed as well? Remember that line?

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

The first time they hear it, almost everyone asks what’s the difference between the first part and the second part of that line. Yes, there is none! There would have been a difference had Armstrong said “a man” instead of just “man”, i.e.:

“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Weeks after they returned from the moon, NASA couldn’t explain how the first part was any different from the second part. So they blamed static, saying static had caused the “a” to be lost. Armstrong agreed:

“I rehearsed it that way. I meant it that way. And I’m sure I said it that way.”

But the recording indicated otherwise: there was no static (Today, you can hear it on the web). Soon, Armstrong gave up the pretense:

“Damn, I really did it. I blew the first words on the Moon, didn’t I?”

Another incident from the moon landing showed the inevitable desire of both Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin to be the first on the moon. Both men lobbied hard to be first. From the book, Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth, it transpires that this was how NASA decided who went first:

-         Armstrong was the mission commander;

-         He lobbied harder;

-         He was considered better equipped to deal with the fame and clamour that would follow their return to earth;

-         And lastly, his seat in the lunar module was closer to the door!

You’d think Aldrin would accept that, right? After all, aren’t these guys selected after a lot of psychological profiling and their ability to work in teams? But this was a historical event; and Aldrin got petty. He took no photographs of Armstrong on the Moon! The only manually taken lunar image of the First Man on the Moon is in a pic that Armstrong snapped of Aldrin, showing himself reflected in the visor of Aldrin’s spacesuit…