Dad, did you know, Kalpana Chawla was the first woman of Indian origin to go to space?’ my eight year old daughter, who is in class 3, mentioned with excitement. I was helping her with her school project on the solar system. During the course of the project, we discovered together, the truly inspiring personal journey of Kalpana Chawla from Karnal, a small town in Haryana to her joining the NASA programme in the US as an astronaut. Kalpana’s fascination for space and flying was sparked off at a very early age. On a recent trip to the US, I had the opportunity to take my daughter to the world famous Morehead Planetarium and Science Centre in North Carolina. The planetarium was used to train the astronauts for the Gemini and Apollo programme in celestial navigation. It was heartening to see so many parents bring their young children to the planetarium and exposing them to the fascinating world of astronomy. It was really inspiring to see how the instructors took their jobs seriously, and encouraged the kids present to ask any questions.
November 2016, volume 40, No 11