India, April 12 -- The world held its breath last week, as four astronauts were hurtling back toward a vast blue ocean, after entering the atmosphere. NASA's Artemis II crew - comprising Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen, after their historic 10-day journey, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California in the early hours of (Indian time) April 11, 2026. Having just completed a flawless free-return trajectory around the Moon, this mission marks the first time humanity has ventured into the lunar vicinity in over half a century.

But as we watch these space-farers return from the farthest distance humans have ever travelled from Earth, a question keeps cropping up: Why are we going bac...