Amid the Artemis program’s launch delays and budget overruns, a second player is entering the race back to the Moon. India announced its intentions to build a space station in orbit around the Moon in 2028, mirroring NASA’s planned Gateway station. While current timetables have Gateway’s first module launched in 2027, any further delays or an outright cancellation would have India beating the United States.
The Indian Space Research Organisation’s planned station would support a crewed mission to the Moon. All of the Bharatiya Antariksha station’s modules are slated to be assembled in orbit by 2035, Space.com reports. Narendra Modi, the country’s prime minister, threw down the gauntlet last month and directed the agency to put an astronaut on the lunar surface by 2040.
India’s fledgling space program could have its first manned space mission next year, but the country’s enthusiasm for space exploration is at an all-time high after unexpectedly besting Russia in a race to land the first spacecraft on the Moon’s South Pole in August. Roscosmos seemed certain to be the first to reach the unexplored polar region but Luna-25 failed when the lander smashed into the surface. India’s Chandrayaan-3 swooped into and stole all of the glory just days later.
ISRO is expecting to receive a 20 to 30 percent increase to its $1.55 billion budget next year, according to Reuters. While still significantly less than NASA’s $24.9 billion budget, India could seriously rival America’s lunar effort.
Spaceflight is inseparable from the Space Race and its legacy. The civilization-imperiling rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union pushed humanity beyond the comfortable confines of Earth’s atmosphere for the first time. Competition pushed both programs forward at a relentless pace.
The Space Race ended not because Apollo 11 put the United States on the Moon first. It ended because the Soviets stopped racing and the American government lost its most significant reason to fund manned space exploration. Apollo-Mir is the Space Race’s real end. The joint mission began the rivals-to-roommates saga that continues through the Shuttle-Mir program and the International Space Station.
Only time will tell if a similar rivalry in space with develop with India and if the United States will step up to meet the challenge or let a new country become the preeminent leader in space exploration.