World View

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A New Discovery!
Afsha Khan

The Indo-US
Nuclear
Agreement
Satarupa Sen Bhattacharya

F
It has been stated that Americas space programme is fuelled
by the courage and determination of its space travellers. The
people of the world would have hardly ever thought that, less
than 100 years after flying machines were created, the
exploration of space would be an ordinary everyday event.
Then on February 2003, when the space shuttle Columbia blew
up 200,000 feet over Texas, the common man learnt what
technicians and scientists had perhaps always known - it isnt
easy!

he Discovery Space Mission

was NASAs project to
undo its mistakes with
Columbia. Despite initial
technical problems, with hope, faith and
great technicians the mission returned
safely to Earth within two weeks on the
9th of August, with all its astronauts
intact. Received with great celebration
at the Ellington Field in Houston,
Commander Eileen Colling, 1st member
of the crew, addressed her audiences
graciously and thanked the people she
worked with. Getting the Shuttle flying
again was difficult work, but it was a
labour of love and the people who

worked to get this mission flying again

did it because they loved it and believed
in what they were doing, declared the
commander.
Apart from the commander, the crew
of the Discovery included Pilot James
Kelly and mission specialists- Soichi
Noguchi, Charles Canarda, Wendy
Laurence, Dr. Stephen Robinson.
The main mission of the Discovery
was to find out a little more about the
altitude and temperatures of Mars. The
mission has also proven that shuttle
repairs can take place successfully in
space. NASA is also on a mission to build
reusable space shuttles.

or all those who predicted that

Prime Minister Manmohan
Singhs mid-July visit to the
USA would just prove to be
another diplomatic collapse,
the actual outcome came as quite a jolt.
At the end of the hour-and-half-long talks
between the two heads of nations,
President Bush announced that India and
the United States had just concluded the
Next Steps in Strategic Partnership - an
agreement aimed at enhancing
cooperation in civilian nuclear, space, and
hi-tech commerce. Washingtons
endorsement of the Indian civilian nuclear
programme signifies a long distance
traversed since the days of the Pokhran
hatchet. However, the USA has made it
amply clear that the pact is only to
encourage promotion of nuclear energy
through peaceful means and is in no way
meant to foster nuclear weapons
production.
Expectedly, the agreement has drawn
flak at home from political opponents and
even ideologically different allies.
Conceding to the US condition of
segregation of the civilian and defence
nuclear programmes has been viewed by
the Opposition as a tame surrender and a
poor bargain that will seriously hamper
the growth of the weapons plan. However,
even the staunchest detractors of the pact
cannot deny that it raises hopes of at least
a partial solution to Indias growing energy
crisis through increased assistance to the
countrys atomic power generation
programme.
September 2005 Advanc'edge MBA 75