![An LVM-3 rocket carrying the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft lifts off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India, on Friday.](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1531892056-800x533.jpg)
R.Satish BABU / AFP
Three years ago, India sought to land a small spacecraft on the Moon, Chandrayaan 2. Nonetheless, attributable to a series of problems, including software errors, the lander crashed into the grey and lonely lunar surface during its final descent. This failure hit a sore spot for the country, which takes pride in its burgeoning space program and its growing list of achievements.
Now, there’s plenty of national fervor behind India’s second try to land on the Moon, with a spacecraft called Chandrayaan 3. After launching in mid-July, the spacecraft’s Vikram lander is attributable to attempt a soft touchdown at 8:34 am ET (12:34 UTC) on Wednesday. Success is much from guaranteed, especially after Russia’s Luna 25 spacecraft crashed into the Moon this past weekend.
It was, subsequently, perhaps inadvisable that a well known Indian actor and politician named Prakash Raj took to the social media network formerly often called Twitter this weekend to share a picture and comment, “BREAKING NEWS:- First picture coming from the Moon by #VikramLander Wowww #justasking”
BREAKING NEWS:-
First picture coming from the Moon by #VikramLander Wowww #justasking pic.twitter.com/RNy7zmSp3G— Prakash Raj (@prakashraaj) August 20, 2023
The tweet included a photograph of an Indian man—who bore a striking resemblance to the leader of India’s ISRO space agency, K. Sivan, on the time of Chandrayaan 2’s failed landing—dramatically pouring tea from one cup into one other. This apparently was a joke, as Raj said himself. Nonetheless, as an American space author, the cultural meaning of the humor is lost on me. Anyway, some people didn’t take the attempt at humor thoroughly.
Raj received responses from individuals who believed he wished unwell on Chandrayaan 3. Others claimed he hoped it might fail because it might forged a negative light on the ruling party of India, the Indian People’s Party, and the nation’s prime minister, Narendra Modi. Raj lost a neighborhood election in 2019 as an independent candidate.
Anyway, some Hindu organizations took the matter so seriously that they filed an official criticism on the Banahatti police station, positioned within the Bagalkote district in Karnataka, a state in southwest India. Some news accounts have reported that Raj was “booked” by police, nevertheless it is just not clear that he has been taken into custody. Relatively, the police have said they’re investigating the matter.
It does seem extreme to arrest someone for making a joke about India’s Moon mission, but simply to be secure, I’ll cross “Delhi-based author for The Onion” off my bucket list as a journalist. Also, for the sake of India and its humorists, perhaps it might be best if things went well with Wednesday’s attempted landing.