NASA’s 2018 calendar features artworks of two student winners from Tamil Nadu

Two children from Tamil Nadu have won NASA’s 2018 Commercial Crew Program Calendar Art Contest and their artworks, which were selected from over 3,000 entries, will be featured in the calendar.

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Two students from Tamil Nadu aged 11 won NASA’s 2018 Commercial Crew Program Calendar Art Contest and were featured in calendar that will be sent to the International Space Station. (Source: Nasa.gov)

Beating over 3,000 entries from over 193 countries across the world, two children from Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu, won the NASA’s 2018 Commercial Crew Program Calendar Art Contest and their artworks will be sent to the International Space Station and are all set to be featured in NASA’s calendar.

The two children — Kaviya BJ and K Selva Sreejith — from Shree Vidhya Mandhir in Pushpathur are among the top 12 winners. Both of them study in sixth standard. Open to kids between the age group of four to 12 years, the contest selected ten other winners from different countries including Indonesia, Italy, France and Germany.

The children were given diverse topics to select from and they were said to create their art pieces on the basis of that. While Sreejith opted for ‘What would you take from home?’ and drew an astronaut getting his daughter, dog and precious possessions to space, Kaviya’s topic was ‘Space food’ for which she drew an organic garden in the outer world.

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Moreover, along with every artwork was a detailed description of the topic on which the piece was based on. Sreejith’s answer read, “What would you take from home? Today, every astronaut goes to space to do very special work. But because they’re gone so long, they each take some personal items to remind them of home or small things to do during their limited free time. Some of those things astronauts take include musical instruments, MP3 players, or small toys.”

K Selva Sreejith, 11, chose the topic, ‘What would you take from home?’ and drew some important things for astronauts to take along on their expeditions. (Source: Nasa.gov)

Meanwhile, Kaviya, who drew her imaginary space food, wrote, “Space Food:There are no grocery stores in space. When new supplies are sent to the International Space Station, there’s always some fresh food like fruits and vegetables, but almost everything is prepackaged so it will last a long time. The goal is for astronauts to eventually grow crops that can help supplement their nutrition. We’ve also discovered growing plants in space can make the astronauts happy since it reminds them of Earth.”

Steal a glance at Kaviya BJ’s art work on ‘Space food’ that shows an organic farm in the outer space. (Source: Nasa.gov)

The students, who have been featured, will also receive goodies from NASA along with the copy of the calendar.

Revealing how the little ones came up with the idea, an astronaut was seen saying in a video on NASA’s page, “Everyone who submitted art for the calendar was between 4 and 12 years old. That means they have never known a world that didn’t have someone living in space. And they are the right age to one day become astronauts who walk on Mars. So keep studying and keep being creative!”