Making of an Astronaut: Beginning
Humanity’s first space explorer, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, orbited around the globe on 12 April 1961, more than half a century ago. Since then, more than 566 people from 37 nations have blasted themselves into the deep black abyss, unraveling its mysteries.
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Set in the year 2035, this course discusses the series of giant leaps, and presents several critical challenges encountered by humanity to land and live on the next planet. This course is a one-stop guide to becoming an astronaut.
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The course consists of 12 modules and is offered in English.
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Each module would be of 10-12 minutes and classes can be completed anytime over the specified week.
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Recommended Age Group: 10 years onwards​​
Course Overview
Our Place In Space
These modules would be covered in a week and are divided into four modules:
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A Quest To Space: 1
Being an astronaut is, obviously, a very cool job, so it’s not surprising that thousands of you want to become one. Here, we'll talk about what it takes for you to become one.
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A Quest To Space: 2
The profession of an astronaut is undoubtedly a highly desirable one. In this context, we will discuss the requirements necessary to become an astronaut.
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Space Station Work
Humans have explored the infinite space beyond Earth's atmosphere for over half a century. Let's get our creative cells at work to make some important design decisions before we land on the next planet.
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Mission Readiness Test
Strain your brain with some super fun, mind-bending, totally awesome trivia questions and answers about stars, constellations, planets, spaceships, space travel, and much more.
Why We Explore?
These modules would be covered in a week and are divided into four modules:
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Our Past with Stars
Stars have been used for navigation since ancient times. They are also the source of the elements we’re made of. Let’s understand the impact of stars and constellations on humanity.
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The Lonely Moon
Let's delve into an exciting story of some of humanity's greatest minds and understand how the knowledge of space science changed the course of human history.
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All About Eclipses
Eclipses have caused fear, inspired curiosity, and have been associated with myths, legends, and superstitions throughout history. Here, we'll discuss everything in detail about them.
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Mission Readiness Test
Test your understanding with some super fun, mind-bending, totally awesome trivia questions and answers about our nearest cosmic neighbor — Moon, the mighty Sun, eclipses, and much more.
Alone in the Universe!?
These modules would be covered in a week and are divided into four modules:
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Why Send Astronauts to Space?
Humans are driven to explore the unknown, discover new worlds, push the boundaries of our scientific limits, and then push further. This module focuses on the need to send humans to space.
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Space Station Work
Do you think you are busy? Wait until you see what a day in space looks like for astronauts on the Space Station. Come let us look at the itinerary of a typical day in an astronaut's life.
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Why Send Astronauts to Space?
This module delves deeper into the human thirst for discovery and exploring uncharted territories. It stresses the crucial role of sending young people as astronauts into space for the survival of our species.
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Our Solar Family
For the first time in human history, we know of planets around other stars and many of those other planetary systems look quite different from our own. Let's explore our solar family in detail.
Meet Your Mission Commander
Srijan Pal Singh
India's #1 Science Author and Former Advisor to Dr. Kalam
Srijan Pal Singh is an author, education innovator, futurist and social entrepreneur. He studied in La Martiniere College and then completed his Engineering and further went to the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad to study management. He was awarded the Gold Medal for the Best All-rounder Student of the 2009 batch at IIM-A and was also the President of the Student’s Council there.​
He served as Officer on Special Duty and Advisor (Technology and Policy) at the Office of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam where he worked as a close aide to the former president on various consulting works. Some of the projects include Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA), Kalam-NSS, USA Initiative for Space-based Solar Power, Projects on Koodanakulum Nuclear Plant, Neutrinos, Development Plans for various governments across India, Russia, Maldives, Canada and UAE.
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He has interacted with leading institutions of the world for addresses/research and delegate visits including, FermiLab (Chicago), UKCA Yorkshire, CERN (Switzerland), Boulby Underground Dark Matter Laboratory, Harvard University (USA), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), Boston University, Kentucky University, Sydney University, University of Edinburgh, St Gallen's University (Switzerland), Beijing University, HBS, DRDO, BrahMos Missile Project, Toyota Motors (Georgetown), George Washington University, Mahindra, NITI Aayog, IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta and many other leading institutions across the world. He has been a host to several Nobel Laureates and Astronauts in his shows.