NISHTHA SHARMA, a class VIII student and resident of Pinjore, has received a mail inviting her to Indian Research Space Organisation’s headquarters at Bengaluru to witness moon landing of Chandrayaan-2 live at the ISRO control room on September 7. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also be present there to witness the landing. The Department of Space, Indian Research Space Organisation (ISRO), had started an online quiz to increase awareness about its space programme which was conducted from August 10 to August 25. The quiz could only be taken by schoolchildren from classes VIII to X. Nishtha received a mail from “contests@mygov.in” on August 28 informing her about her selection and invitation. A student of Amravati Vidyalya in Pinjore, Nishtha said, “I took part in this quiz on August 11 and I am excited to visit ISRO and witness the moon landing of Chandrayaan-2.” In the quiz, a total of 10 questions were to be answered in a span of 10 minutes but Nishtha claims that she did it in under seven minutes. Nishtha, who wants to become a scientist, said, “This is just the first step to my dream.” Manisha Dogra, principal, Amravati Vidyalaya, said, “Nishtha has always been a brilliant student, not only in academics but also in arts. She has a lot of medals and awards to her name and has always made the school proud. She represents school in various competitions and wins.” Nishtha’s class teacher Nitika Sharma said, “Nishtha possesses good knowledge of each subject and is also very active in taking part in extra-curricular activities. She takes initiative and that is the sole reason she took part in the quiz while many others did not.” Nishtha’s mother Preeti Sharma said, “I haven’t slept since I have got this news. Nishtha will be going to Bengaluru with her father.” Only two children from each state were to be selected under the programme and the criteria for winning was “maximum correct answers in shortest time”.
