In August, our friends in India pulled off a historic move by becoming the fourth country to smoothly touch down on our nearest next-door space neighbor, the moon. It was like a global jaw-drop moment as videos from their lunar rover showed the slow descent to the moon’s surface, with India’s space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), throwing a big real-time celebration.
Now, India’s in the cool kids’ club, joining the likes of the US, Russia, and China, who’ve all sent their bots and rovers to the moon. But only the US has sent actual humans up there so far.
The Americans had kind of lost interest in the moon for a while. It’s been 40 years since they last visited, and people were wondering if they’d ever go back. But guess what? They dusted off their moon boots and shot their first rocket back up there lat week.
Thanks to the Chinese, Elon Musk (who’s just a regular dude, by the way!), and now India, the US got this renewed space buzz. It’s like they finally woke up from a long nap and said, “Hey, let’s get back to the moon!” Everyone’s cheering for this new era of space travel, and it’s about time!
This post is part of the What Happened in Tech in 2023 series.
