The space race has always had a military purpose

People wave Indian national flags as they celebrate the successful lunar landing of Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the south pole of the Moon, in New Delhi on Aug 23. — AFP

IT wasn’t entirely unexpected that zealous television channels gave indiscriminate time and screen space to an awkwardly beaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, rather than focusing exclusively on the crucial stage of India's Chandrayaan 3’s historic moon landing. The effort was to turn scientific success into a handy event with a narrow political intent.

It would, therefore, be of little value to the TV stations or to Modi’s numerous chest-thumping cheerleaders to remember or to even want to know that the lunar journey they applauded lustily had its origins in a bruising battle between science and religious orthodoxy that began in Europe a few short centuries ago.