Why India wants to conquer the moon

India – or, to be more precise, its leader Narendra Modi – wants to conquer space. That is why the success of the country’s latest moon mission matters so much. Only three countries – the United States, the former Soviet Union and China – have completed a successful landing on the lunar surface. No country has ever managed a landing near the moon’s south pole – a treacherous and freezing landscape, covered in darkness. India has long harboured the dream of being the first nation to do so, demolishing once and for all hurtful aspersions that it is a minnow in the space race.

All eyes have been on Chandrayaan-3, ‘moon vehicle’ in Sanskrit and Hindi, since it lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in mid-July. Thousands of onlookers cheered it on its way while waving the national flag, with cries of ‘Victory to Mother India’, as it rose skywards.