Space Camp with Spacenaut Inc.
- Secondary
- 17th October 2019
Recently, humankind for the first time ever saw the image of a real black hole. As the world rejoiced this historic moment of space exploration, we, at GIIS, conducted a space camp program for students from 6th to 10th grade on the 19th of April. At GIIS, students’ fascination with space knows no bounds. In order to inspire, motivate and mentor the next generation of children for space exploration, the space camp was organized in collaboration with Spacenaut Inc. which was led by Dr. Rajesh Ghangurde.
The space camp was an educational workshop which provided a unique, hands-on STEM experience to students to help them learn and generate interest for space exploration. The students learnt about space history, space missions, telescopes, space stations, satellite programs, space engineering, and a whole lot of other interesting stuff related to space. The workshop was not limited to only briefing and video presentation; it was an immersive experience for students framed with exciting tasks and tests to provide them an insight of the training programs of astronauts and engineering activities that go behind the daring missions of going into space.
Students participated in agility test to meet the required physical fitness so as to face the various challenges as astronauts. The students also prepared models of rocket by materials like PVC pipes and stickers provided by the team of Spacenaut. The rockets were launched in an open space with the help of air launchers. They also learnt and built models of spacecraft to ensure safe landing with materials like balloons, eggs and paper cups. Students built bridges and test their strength as a part of space engineering activity. Lastly, students had a Mars habitation activity which was a challenge demonstrating what it would be like to live on Mars and building Martian colonies.
It was an extremely engaging workshop for students which taught them STEM principles, the discipline of teamwork, while having fun and promoting creativity. Dr. Ghangurde also provided an overview of various career opportunities in space industry to the students and the session ended with distribution of medals and certificates to the Junior Astronaut Trainees.