ISRO tour team with Justices J. Nisha Banu and M.S. Ramesh in Chennai

“Is this real?” asked 5-year-old Udhayen Abinath, unable to believe what he was seeing. But, seeing is believing, the kid came to a conclusion later.

Udhayen and other kids on a mission to ISRO

What do you think the little Udhayen, a Grade-1 student of Queen Mira International School (QMIS), Madurai, would have seen?

A real rocket!!!

Many other boys and girls had the same question in their minds as soon as they stepped into the country’s Spaceport at Sriharikota. No wonder!

To say the QMIS-sponsored trip to the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) at Sriharikota in the Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh ignited the minds of 200-plus kids is an understatement.

They wouldn’t even have dreamt of taking a tour to and of the Spaceport - seeing the making of space vehicles, assemblage, launchpads and vehicle and mission control centres, leave alone the museums

Not all these kids, majorly from secondary grade, were students of QMIS. It is here that Queen Mira stands out from the rest of the other educational institutions. Many were from different schools - both public (that includes Government and Government aided) and private. They earned a ticket to the prized ISRO trip by showcasing their skills in The Little Emperors - Season 8 and winning the first prize.

A bonanza of sorts, the children and their schools grabbed it in astonishment. They knew it was a lifetime opportunity too costly to be missed. With them joined the ‘star of the year’ kids from QMIS. They fanned out into four teams – SARAL, INSAT, OCEANSAT and RISAT.

For kids, any trip, be it educational or excursion, excitement surges as it nears. The QMIS management built up that interest and eagerness in them with a myriad of pre-tour activities. In the run-up, QMIS came up with 'Space Anthem', a tribute to ISRO. That nobody else had penned a tribute to India's space agency, the ISRO scientists at SDSC was overjoyed when the lyrical video was played to them during the trip.

Space Anthem - A lyrical tribute to ISRO from QMIS