🏆 Honored to Win First Prize in the Space Ambassador Contest! 🚀

We are thrilled and deeply honored to announce that we have won the first prize in the Space Ambassador Contest, organized by Space Education and Awareness Drive, Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO). This prestigious award recognizes our dedicated efforts in organizing the remarkable World Space Week 2022.

The Space Ambassador Contest sought to acknowledge individuals and organizations that demonstrated outstanding commitment and contribution to promoting space education and awareness in Pakistan. We are humbled to be recognized for our endeavors in organizing the World Space Week, an event that celebrated the wonders of space and inspired countless individuals across the nation.

It fills us with immense pride to share that, according to the WSW 2022 Statistics, Pakistan secured the top position in organizing the highest number of events during the World Space Week 2022. This achievement showcases the enthusiasm and passion for space exploration that exists within our country.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Space Education and Awareness Drive (SEAD) and SUPARCO for honoring us with this prestigious award. We would also like to express our deepest appreciation to all our team members, and volunteers who played an integral role in organizing the World Space Week 2022. It

We are truly grateful for this recognition and remain committed to nurturing a passion for space exploration, fostering scientific curiosity, and advancing space education in Pakistan.

Books: Women in Space Science, Astronomy & Astrophysics

Thanks to the many authors who have delved into the lives and experiences of female space pioneers, astronomers and astrophysicist  we can read about these women’s enthralling and often difficult journeys. Here are some books worth reading 

1- "Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars" by Nathalia Holt - This book tells the story of the female "human computers" who worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California and played a crucial role in the development of America's space program.

2- "Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race" by Margot Lee Shetterly - This book (and the movie it inspired) tells the story of the African-American women who worked as mathematicians and engineers at NASA during the space race.

3- "The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars" by Dava Sobel - This book tells the story of the women who worked at the Harvard College Observatory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including Henrietta Swan Leavitt, who discovered the period-luminosity relationship for Cepheid variable stars.

4- "Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo" by Nicholas de Monchaux - This book tells the story of the development of the spacesuit that allowed astronauts to walk on the moon and includes the stories of the women who worked on its design and production.

5- "The Astronaut Wives Club" by Lily Koppel - This book tells the stories of the women who were married to the astronauts who went to space in the 1960s and 70s, and how their lives were affected by their husbands' careers.

6- "Astrophysics for People in a Hurry" by Neil deGrasse Tyson - This book provides an accessible introduction to astrophysics, including the work of women like Henrietta Swan Leavitt and Vera Rubin.

7- "The Interstellar Age: Inside the Forty-Year Voyager Mission" by Jim Bell - This book tells the story of the Voyager space probes and the women who worked on the mission, including planetary scientist Carolyn Porco and engineer Candy Hansen.

These books offer a diverse range of perspectives on women in space, astronomy, the ISS, and astrophysics, and provide insight into the history and current state of these fields.

Space Science and Astronomy in Schools- STEM Workshop for Teachers, Appreciation and Recognition

On the success of Space Science and Astronomy in Schools-STEM Workshop for Teachers organized by the Computational Astrophysics Lab at NCBC-NEDUET on February 21-22, 2023, we would like to take a moment to express our sincere thanks to our invited speakers:

Dr. Gaitee Hussain, Head of Science Division, European Space Agency, Netherlands 

Dr. Aquib Moin, Associate professor, UAE University, UAE 

Dr. Ahmed H. Abdullah. IAU Astronomer, University of Baghdad, Iraq

Dr. Faisal ur Rahman, Member of EMU-ASKAP and WALLABY-ASKAP Radio Astronomy surveys, CTO of My Impact Meter, Lahore, Pakistan

Mr. Ghulam Mustafa Leghari, Divisional Head Astronomy, Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), Karachi, Pakistan

for their willingness to share their knowledge and experiences and their truly invaluable contribution to the event. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the teachers of the workshop for all that they did to make the workshop a valuable learning experience for our attendees.  We would like to appreciate the volunteers for their commitment to ensuring that everything ran smoothly and that our attendees were well taken care of. 

We made every effort to be inclusive and build a diverse teacher cohort. The participants were from government and private English, Urdu and Sindhi medium schools. We would like to express our sincere thanks to the participant teachers. Their dedication to the education of their students and their commitment to learning more about space science and astronomy was truly inspiring.

It was a great pleasure for us to host "Meet an IAU Astronomer"  during the workshop, which was a significant attraction for the attendees. To highlight the contributions of women in Astronomy and inspire girls and women to pursue careers in astronomy and STEM fields, we also celebrated "Girls and Women in Astronomy" during the workshop. @astromeetings @womeninSTEM

The goal of this workshop is to create a strong community of astronomy educators who can inspire the next generation of scientists and astronomers in Pakistan. By providing teachers with the knowledge, hands on experience and resources they need, we hope to promote astronomy education and encourage more students to pursue careers in STEM fields.

In the end I'd like to thank the International Astronomical Union, Office of Astronomy for Education for their support in organizing the first ever IAU OAE Astronomy teacher training workshop in Karachi, Pakistan in December 2022, which set a great example and ground for this second workshop "Space Science and Astronomy in Schools- STEM Workshop for Teachers" organized by the Computational Astrophysics Lab at NCBC-NEDUET, Karachi, Pakistan.