SPACE a leading astronomy education and astronomy travel provider, has begun its operations in Chennai
Astronomy is an intriguing subject and every one of you must have spent several hours in stargazing. Now, Chennaiites have a real opportunity to look beyond the sky, explore and celebrate important celestial events.
Chennai: Astronomy is an intriguing subject and every one of you must have spent several hours in stargazing. Now, Chennaiites have a real opportunity to look beyond the sky, explore and celebrate important celestial events. A new tourist initiative – Astro Tourism – is on the anvil in Chennai where you can book a ticket for any international space observatory or global space camp, be it NASA, Kennedy Space Centre in Orlando, Euro Space Centre in Belgium or Dark Sky Reserve in New Zealand.
The Delhi-based Space Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE), a leading astronomy education and astronomy travel provider, has begun its operations in Chennai and is offering exciting package tours, especially for students, covering all important international space observatories, space camps and space trek in USA, Europe and Asia & South Pacific.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, SPACE CEO Amit Verma said over phone from Delhi that Astro tourism was a novel concept and the travel is to places where there was little light pollution allowing uninterrupted stargazing, chasing eclipses and also sky photography. “We are already operating in Delhi region and conduct an average of 10 international sky expedition tours every year. We started it in 2001 and are now expanding it to Chennai. Besides, we also hold Mid Ocean and Mid Air tours to chase eclipses”.
Asked about the affordability factor, he said the tour costs approximately Rs 2 lakh per head. “Indians are travelling abroad like never before. There are lots of schools who are ready to engage with us. Already, we have started booking in Chennai and the first batch will leave next summer during the vacation”. S. Venkata Narayanan, zonal business manager (South), said all necessary measures are taken for student safety during the tour. A dedicated tour director will accompany the team, Visa assistance, compulsory travel and medical insurance, comfortable 2-3 star hotel accommodation and 24-hour emergency support will be provided.
“The trip to Shanghai in China to view Venus Transit was spell-binding, unforgettable and a great learning experience for our students”, said Ms. Meenu Goswami, Principal Bal Bharti Public School, Pitampura. A student Ayush Agarwal from Delhi, who was part of a student team chasing the Total Solar Eclipse, said it was a golden opportunity in one’s life to watch it from NASA.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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