India landing to the South Pole of the Moon is a hope for many and not just India.

It is believed that the south polar region might contain abundant water that could be used to make rocket fuel at a future permanent base, allowing the moon to serve as a sort of truck stop en route to Mars.

Others speculate that the frozen, shadowed dark side is rich in minerals needed for high-tech applications on Earth. For them, the Indian rover will be a 21st-century version of the pick-wielding miner of American frontier lore, scratching away in hopes of starting a gold rush.

The marvelous achievement of India is symbolic for an important moment in geopolitics.

India's successful landing came just days after Russia's Luna 25 crashed which was supposed to land in the same region of the moon but went haywire and smashed into the lunar surface like a hammer coming down on the last nail in the coffin of Russia’s decline.

But Russia was the first countryto put a satellite into orbit, first to send a human into space and first to land a spacecraft on the moon, among other pioneering missions, as the dominant republic of the Soviet Union.

It was 1966, and that was long time ago. Since then world has changed and so has been technological and space exploration and development in the world.

India’s economy was about half the size of Russia’s when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. Today, India’s economy is 50 percent bigger than Russia’s. Forget about keeping pace with the United States; Russia can’t keep up with India says the Washington Post.

The point is important because the modern world was designed with Russia as a major pillar. China’s rise has somewhat mediated the instability created by the pillar’s collapse. But China has its own mismanagement problems that have turned a roaring economy into a sputtering mess.

India as a country, as an economy and also technologically has advanced and is just becoming better, and its just the start.

To read more about what Washington Post is saying

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/23/india-moon-landing-russia-crash-space-program/