When we think about crossing the space, the moon floats in front of our eyes. The people of the earth were first eager to solve the mystery of the moon. So we will never forget the names of Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins. The American space agency NASA sent the first spacecraft to the moon in 1969 named Apollo 11. ‘One small step for man, one giant achievement for mankind’, said US astronaut Neil Armstrong when he set foot on the moon half a century ago.
The whole scenario about Apollo-11 mission was created at the Astronaut Camp held in Chandpur, to encourage children and teenagers in space science and to inform them about various aspects of space, Bangladesh Innovation Forum and Space Innovation Camp organized by Bangladesh Innovation Forum and Space Innovation Camp at Chandpur Government College today. Astronaut Camp was held on 09 March 2024.
Around 200 students from various schools in and around Chandpur participated in the day-long event with great joy.
According to the organizers, there was a space talk on the Apollo-11 mission and Robotics Workshop, Rocket Launching Workshop and VR Base Astronaut Training divided into 5 groups. Kids can learn about the International Space Station through VR training. In the space robotics workshop, various aspects of making robots are shown hands-on, during which students try to make their own robots with various parts of making robots.
A similar scenario can be seen at Rocket Camp. In this, the various stages and technical aspects of rocket making are explained to the students in a simple manner and various parts are handed over to them. Students are divided into several groups to work on different stages of building a model rocket. The model rocket was created with their combined efforts. Later, students gathered in the college grounds for a rocket launch. The excitement between them is whether the rocket made by their own hands can really fly or not. In time, attempts to launch model rockets began. As soon as the rocket started flying, everyone present burst into cheers.
Apart from this, as a special surprise, there was an astronaut photo booth where children and teenagers dressed up as astronauts and took pictures.
Md Fazle Rabbi Bhuiyn, Md Akramul Hasan Chowdhury, Abu Saeed, Nure Saeem Sakib, Md. Misbah Uddin were present among the mission experts in the event.
Professor Asit Baran Das, principal of Chandpur Government College was present as the chief guest at the event, he said, “I am very happy that such activities are happening in Chandpur and I think more and more such camps are needed to develop science and technology and encourage the next generation in space science”
Ariful Hasan Apu, president of Bangladesh Innovation Forum and advisor of NASA Space Apps Challenge Bangladesh, said that Bangladesh Innovation Forum is working to make 10 lakh students interested in space science by 2028, As part of that, we have this camp in Chandpur, students are very interested in learning about space science and space exploration, we want to continue the joy of science through small activities in space research and make them more interested in science.
Chandpur Government College was the venue partner for the event and Robust Research and Development Limited was the support partner.