On Friday, the probe Aditya landed on the moon and started sending images back to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).  While the United States is still the only country to have sent and returned humans from the moon, India joins a growing number of nations that have sent missions to the Moon – the U.S., Russia/the Soviet Union, the European Space Agency (ESA), China, and Japan.  The expectation is that this mission will be the first step in a series of efforts to extend and expand India’s presence outside of Earth orbit.  The lander was intended to crash on the surface, and separated from an orbiting probe, Chandrayaan 1, a few days ago.  Both NASA and the ESA have contributed research instruments to the mission.

While some may look to this event as additional incentive for the United States to get back to the moon, the commitments to the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle (and its replacement) have commanded the bulk of NASA’s financial resources.  Personally, I fail to see any political benefit in repeating what was done nearly forty years ago.  Now, China, India, and perhaps Japan may run in some kind of Asian space race, but the economic and political landscapes of space exploration suggest some kind of cooperation in more public-good oriented projects, with the competition left to providing cheaper costs to orbit and beyond.