On Wednesday, India joined the elite club of nations successfully landing a spacecraft on the moon, following in the footsteps of the United States, the former Soviet Union and China. The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft landed on the moon’s south pole at 6.19 pm Nepali time, completing India’s decades-long quest to prove its prowess in space research. Nepal’s southern neighbour also made history, as it was the first time a spacecraft had landed on the moon’s south pole, considered a rough terrain and a difficult place to make a landing. A similar mission by Russia, Luna-25, the country’s first in almost half a century, had earlier in the week crash-landed on the same pole.

But Wednesday’s success did not come overnight. Its foundations were laid in 1962 when the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru helped establish the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR), under the leadership of physicist and astronomer Vikram Sarabhai, recognising the need for India to conduct space research. INCOSPAR was later superseded by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 1969. ISRO started an ambitious satellite programme, launching Aryabhata, the country’s first satellite, in 1975. Aryabhata was just a partial success, as a power failure halted its operation after four days in orbit. But the failure did not stop the Indians from dreaming big.

Another major failure confronted the Indians in 2019 when the country attempted to land Chandrayaan-2 on the lunar surface but made a hard landing and crashed. Video clips of a tearful ISRO chief, K Sivan, being consoled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the rounds immediately after the crash. But the failure did not demotivate them. Instead, they worked harder, and the result was a historic landing, propelling the country to a forward position in space research. With the latest feat, India has finally fulfilled the Nehruvian tryst with modern science and also paid tribute to its first prime minister, who had laid the foundation of space research the same year the country faced a humiliating defeat in a war with China.

That it took India over six decades to fulfil its moon mission should teach us in Nepal a lesson or two about investing in research and innovation in science, among other disciplines. Grand national dreams cannot be fulfilled overnight; instead, they require a consistent national policy that is passed down, from government to government, generation to generation. India established state-of-the art science and technology research institutes, including the Indian Institutes of Technology, right after gaining independence, laying the foundation for producing the top-notch scientists involved in the space mission. Being sandwiched between two space elites, India and China, Nepal has much to benefit from the scientific advancements made by its neighbours. And if there is any India or China card Nepal can play, it should be the cards of entrepreneurship, science, research and innovation, as that is the only way we can leap forward and catch up with the rest of the world.

Nehru wouldn’t tire of speaking about scientific temper, by which he meant an open-minded attitude to new knowledge and experiments. As we celebrate the lunar landing by a close neighbour, we should not hesitate to seek collaboration in advancing science and technology while developing a temper for innovation in science and technology. Much before Nehru sold Indians the space dream, our own Laxmi Prasad Devkota in his poem taught us to aim to touch the moon. We have wasted enough time.