“Space Oddity” is a song by the late David Bowie released on July 11, 1969. A few days later, the Apollo
11 astronauts would land on the moon. Bowie released the song three times from
1969 to 1975 and each time it was a chart-hit. The song was supposedly meant to
be a taunt to the British establishment on not coming up with a manned-mission
to space with the fictional astronaut “Major
Tom” getting stuck in his “Tin Can” (Spacecraft) watching the earth and
losing contact with ground-control. There is no human being on earth who hasn’t
marveled at the moon and stars in the sky and wondered what’s going on as a
child. The intense quest of mankind to seek answers to mysteries of the
universe drives space-science, like many other domains in science. In dealing
with what is still somewhat unknown, there can be many risks, hiccups and
setbacks and also a good deal of success.
The US has had many
setbacks to its space program. Way back in 1960 when NASA launched the MR-1 Spacecraft it behaved in a most
peculiar way. At liftoff, the rocket lifted 4 inches and then pulled back and
flopped on the launchpad. And then suddenly, the MR’s escape rocket jettisoned
from the spacecraft, rose about 4000 feet and fell 400 yards away. Perplexed NASA engineers called it the “Four-inch flight”. Years later, the US would have the tragic
experience of the Challenger
Shuttle in 1986 exploding just 70
seconds after take-off. The world watched it in horror on Live TV. Again in
2003, the Columbia
Shuttle exploded on re-entry. This shuttle included India’s Kalpana Chawla. Space exploration,
adventure and discoveries are fraught with risks and it takes courageous
astronauts who take those risks for the whole mankind. Similarly, our
scientists at ISRO undertake
missions and the associated risks for the whole country and for mankind.
The abrupt loss of contact
with the latest space mission Chandrayaan-2
and the Vikram Lander (VL) renders
part of a mission incomplete. It is not
a failure by any measure. The Moon-Orbiter, part of the mission, is still
in place. Of course, the VL not accomplishing the final landing disappoints all
Indians (except the usual hatemongers among Sickulars). Through the
disappointment ISRO Chief K. Sivan,
his entire team along with PM Narendra
Modi showed extraordinary poise, calm and strength of character. Something
that the whole of India should be proud of. What we cannot be proud of is the
manner in which some sections of our news-media handle such space missions and
related issues. To use the word “stupid” wouldn’t be enough to describe them.
At 72, modern-day India is
now a mature country. We shouldn’t be
getting excessively jingoistic about our space or military adventures. And
we shouldn’t be getting virally jubilant in our successes or extremely
distressed in our unsuccessful ventures. A
super-power takes both in its stride. We understand the men and women who
toil hard and often pay a heavy price for the missions they undertake for the
country. Mature moderation should be the approach in all such missions.
However, the stupid Jingos of the media never seem to learn. The main criminals
in excessive Jingoism are Republic TV
and Timesnow. The moronic jumping up
and down like clowns claiming “India
will be the first”, “India first on the dark side of the moon”, “India creates
history” – all of these more than 36 hours before the final descent of the
VL:
And the worst part is that
most of this stupid Jingo-dancing comes from the most uneducated journos when
it comes to any kind of “science”. Creating excessive hype over an event
doubles the disappointment when it doesn’t go according to plan. I can forgive
a fair amount of excitement over the VL event but idiots from Republic,
Timesnow and other channels were going around hunting for people, especially
school-kids, for soundbites on it. For all its worth, half the population of
this country wouldn’t have heard of VL till the final moments when it lost
contact with ground-control and thus unsuccessful. And then these stupid
channels get their worst journos to report on the event, ask for soundbites
from the ISRO Chief. The kind of questions they ask simply insults the
intelligence of even a poorly educated man where science is concerned. Here’s
one such Jingo-girl from Republic:
I wonder what last minute
precautions Prasanna was expecting
ISRO to undertake. Is this some wedding where if the groom doesn’t turn up you
quickly find a replacement? I don’t wish to single her out because I am sure
there are many like her that I may not have had the chance to watch
accidentally that have asked such stupid questions. The VL is an unmanned mission and if you think Prasanna is silly,
then you haven’t seen anything yet. This guy, Pallava Bagla (Of NDTV – from where else?) takes stupidity beyond
limits in his chat with Dr. K Sivan (Video: 25 secs):
Bagla wants to know how
many astronauts are flying in the Chandrayaan mission. This moron is the “Science reporter” at NDTV. To go to
chat with a highly ranked specialist with the ignorance that “Unmanned”
missions mean no human is involved would take extraordinary depths of dumbness.
Journos are not very bright people
but this beats even the dumbest of the lot. After the event, when VL lost
contact, ISRO called off the schedule press conference because of the
situation. However, one Dr. Karnik
made an impromptu announcement for the press in general. Once again, this jerk
Bagla behaved badly and was screaming at Karnik on why the ISRO Chief is not
addressing the press. Such uncouth morons shouldn’t be at events in the first
place because they are disconnected from situations and realities. Bagla later
apologised to Karnik in a couple of tweets, so we can probably let the incident
pass. However, there are bigger morons from across the seas who want to defend
his boorish behaviour. The exceptional moron that Sadanand Dhume is, he claims it’s the right of journos to ask such
questions:
Journos, and part-time crap-peddlers
like Dhume, should learn that they cannot choose who should address them. Dr.
Karnik is quite a senior officer in ISRO. Journos are also entitled to ask
questions but are not entitled to indecent behaviour. Journos should also never
forget that while they are entitled to ask questions, the person they are
asking the question to has all the right to refuse an answer or say “No
comment”. Nobody is obligated to answer
questions by journos. Their right is limited to asking, they have no right
to enforce answers. Even cops in criminal cases have no right to enforce
answers from a suspect.
Space missions can bring
great successes and can also bring great tragedies like the Challenger or
Columbia. India hasn’t faced any such tragedy and is progressing steadily and
cautiously. Scientists devote a whole
life to great missions like Chandrayaan, journos devote a few minutes for their
stupid instant orgasm for a few soundbites or for bad news. In the entire
post-VL situation, Dr. K Sivan, his entire team and PM Modi showed
extraordinary “Calm under fire”.
This is a talent; it cannot be transferred. I explained how this talent saves
lives in the post “Miracle at
Gandhi Maidan” and how “Character”
doesn’t develop in a crisis but merely reveals itself. Journos neither have
this talent nor the character in dealing with science and scientists.
In the famous Apollo-13
incident, three astronauts had to abort their mission because of an explosion
in an oxygen tank. Their lives were in danger. It was up to Flight Director Gene Kranz to guide them and bring them back home safely. Kranz
was also the Flight Director for Apollo-11 which landed the first humans on the
moon. The entire NASA team managed the safe return of the astronauts. On his
return, the Commander of the aborted Apollo-13 mission, Jim Lovell, was asked
about the mission and he remarked: “It was a successful failure”:
VL and Chandrayaan too fall
in that category. They are not failures by any measure but just left a mission
incomplete to be undertaken again and completed in the future. There are no
failures in scientific adventures and quests. Scientists cannot and should not
be ridiculed for adverse outcomes. If scientists quit, there would have been no
Polio vaccine. After all, Thomas Edison had to try hundreds of
times to make the electric bulb and was still unsuccessful. When he did finally
manage it, he famously said - "I have not failed
1,000 times, I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb."
And this, when Edison’s invention of the light-bulb itself is disputed. Never
mind that.
We may not break out in a
dance on our space successes but we definitely should stand with our scientists
when they confront adverse situations. Those who ridicule or mock them are
simply the scum of the earth who survive on the work of the very scientist-community
on which their miserable lives exist. One hopes the media space oddities show
greater maturity and respect the next time around.
