Rajamahendravaram: World Space Week celebrations from today

Rajamahendravaram : General Manager of Liquid Propellant Storage and Servicing Facilities (LSSF) of SHAR, SDSC (Satish Dhawan Space Centre) of ISRO N Vijay Kumar said that World Space Week is being conducted at historical city of Rajamahendravaram from October 5 to 8.

Speaking at a media conference at Press Club here on Wednesday, he informed that on October 4, 1957, Russia began space exploration with Sputnik 1, the first man-made satellite, and on October 10, 1967, a global agreement was reached on the rules for the exploration of other celestial bodies, including Moon.

He explained that since October 4 and October 10 are great historical events in the history of world space, the week between these two days has been declared as World Space Week. Vijay Kumar said that every year there is a theme of Space Week celebrations.

He informed that this year the week-long celebrations are being organised to promote private partnerships under the name of ‘Space and Entrepreneurship’. Apart from Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh, Visakha, Kurnool and SHAR (Sriharikota Range) are also organising these week-long celebrations. These weekly festivals are also held in Villupuram, Coimbatore, Tamballapally in Tamil Nadu, and Puri in Odisha.

He said that these weekly festivals are being held at engineering colleges in other areas. But in Rajamahendravaram, these celebrations would be held with people’s participation. He said quiz competitions related to space have already been organised in 19 mandals of the district and drawing competitions have also been held. More than 200 winners will be given prizes on October 8. On Thursday, the first day of the festival, a huge rally will be organized with thousands of people in the name of ‘Space Walk’. On October 6, there will be an exhibition of ISRO equipment and prototypes of satellite launch vehicles at the Venkateswara Anam Kalakendra premises.

About 60 students have been trained to explain them to the visitors. On the same day, 10/20 screen performances will be given at the Kalakendra, and quiz competitions will be held for slot-wise 8th, 9th, and 10th class students.

Vijay Kumar said that the main objective of ISRO is to create awareness among the students about the manufacture and launch of satellites, future equipment, and ISRO experiments.

Rajamahendravaram Municipal Corporation, Adikavi Nannaya University (AKNU), Rajahmundry Press Club, Andhra Pradesh Private Unaided Schools Managements Association (APPUSMA), Private Unaided Colleges Associations are jointly organising the celebrations. Representatives of the respective organisations TK Visveswara Reddy, M Sriramamurthy, V Nagendra Varaprasad, T Nagaratnam, K Pardha Saradhi, and others participated in this conference.