Assam school will send 20 students to NASA

 

The entire group of students will also get the opportunity to undergo an astronaut training experience (ATX) in NASA.

Jitendra Nath Das, director, NPS International School said that every year NPS send their team of students to NASA to explore, discover and understand about the universe.

“This year, we have decided to send a student with rural background, who was among the top five rank holders in the recently declared HSLC Examination conducted by the SEBA. We have already formulated a clear-cut strategy to decide the student who will accompany 20 other students from NPS International School in their trip to NASA. The selection criteria in this regard will be totally on the merit basis,” Das said.

Urging eligible students in this regard to apply as soon as possible to avail the opportunity, director of the school said that students may get in touch with the school in its website www.npsis.in

“Our prime objective is to provide international exposure to students of the region. Even though we follow CBSE and CBSE(I) curriculam, but we also want to contribute for betterment of students in the rural areas of the state as well. We will keep on increasing the number of such meritorious Assam students with rural background to NASA in years to come,” Das said.

 NPS International School is sending its team of students to NASA since 2011.

Last year, the school sent its students to NASA’s John F Kennedy Space Center, world’s gateway to exploring, discovering and understanding our universe.

NPS International School is the first school from Northeast region to visit NASA as well as receive astronomy training there.

“Altogether 37 NPS students went for a three-day astronaut training experience (ATX) in NASA whose mission is to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research,” Jitendra Nath Das said.

NASA astronauts educated the students with the fact that President John F Kennedy focused NASA and the nation on sending astronauts to the moon by the end of the 1960s.

During their visit, students experienced the sights, sounds and sanctions of a vertical launch in humankind’s most complex vehicle - the Space Shuttle. They began the Journey just like an astronaut which was indeed a very thrilling experience.

Students were also taken to US Astronaut Hall of Fame where they got a taste of firsthand experience of astronauts for real missions. Students feel the pull of 4gs in the G - Force Simulator, sat in a mission control console, touched a Mars rock and landed the space shuttle.

All these provided a true experience of Space Flight to the students of NPS International School.

NASA Scientist Mark Lee explained to the students about NASA vision for space exploration.

 

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)