TNR News Network
Una: Former Union Minister and MP from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh Anurag Thakur surprised students when he suggested that Lord Hanuman, not American astronaut Neil Armstrong, could be regarded as the first space traveller.
Anurag Thakur made the remark while interacting with students at a PM Shri School in Una on the occasion of National Space Day.
Students say Armstrong, minister says Lord Hanuman
During the interaction, Anurag Thakur asked students who the first person to travel into space was. The children replied, “Neil Armstrong.” Smiling, the minister countered that he believed the honour should go to Lord Hanuman Ji, citing ancient Indian tradition. He said that unless Indians reconnect with their thousands-year-old heritage, they would remain limited to what colonial narratives taught them.
Asks students to look beyond textbooks
Anurag Thakur urged both students and teachers to explore India’s cultural and knowledge traditions outside school syllabi. He said education should not be confined to textbooks alone but must also embrace the wisdom preserved in the country’s ancient history.
The Hamirpur MP’s statement, captured on video, quickly went viral on social media and triggered a fresh debate.
Neil Armstrong first human to step on moon
Neil Armstrong, an American astronaut, created history on July 20, 1969, when he became the first human to set foot on the Moon during NASA’s Apollo 11 mission. His famous words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” captured the imagination of the world and turned him into a global icon. The mission, carried out along with astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, marked a defining moment in the Cold War-era space race between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Born on August 5, 1930, in Wapakoneta, Ohio, Armstrong developed a fascination for flying at an early age, earning his pilot’s licence before he could legally drive. A naval aviator, test pilot and aerospace engineer, Armstrong’s career spanned decades of contributions to aviation and space exploration. He later served as a professor of aerospace engineering and remained a respected voice on science and technology until his death on August 25, 2012.
Lord Hanuman achieved feat as per Hindu mythology
In Hindu mythology, Lord Hanuman’s leap across the ocean to Lanka is often described as an extraordinary feat that resembles a “space journey”.
Possessing divine powers, Hanuman is said to have expanded his form and soared through the skies, defying gravity and distance. Some modern interpretations symbolically compare this legendary flight to space travel, suggesting that Hanuman’s epic journey represents one of the earliest depictions of interplanetary or aerial exploration in ancient texts. While rooted in faith and mythology rather than science, the tale highlights the imagination and grandeur of India’s cultural narratives, where Hanuman is revered as a celestial traveller who could traverse realms beyond human reach.
