A roar of triumph swept across mission control in Bengaluru as Chandrayaan-3?s lander gently touched the lunar surface last Wednesday. “India is on the moon,” said a smiling and obviously relieved S Somanath, chair of the Indian Space Research Organisation. The sense of history was palpable – not just because India is only the fourth country to land on the moon, after the US, China and Russia – but because Chandrayaan-3?s Vikram lander is also the first to touch down near the unexplored south pole. It will not be the last. Half a century after the end of the cold...