KOCHI: The Space Science Museum at Kakkanad launched by former President A P J Abdul Kalam will be named after the great visionary.
Kalam opened the museum in 2012. “The museum will be named after him. He used to talk about expanding the museum and extending its activities to be beneficial for the rural children. We had planned an interaction with him for the selected students who appeared for the Vikram Sarabhai Science Promotion-oriented Test during his visit to Thiruvananthapuram, earlier scheduled in September,’’ said Indira Rajan, executive director of the museum.
A mobile science exhibition lab from the museum, an initiative of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) of the ISRO, was also an idea of Kalam which would soon be realised. The museum is also working to implement Provision of Urban Amenities to Rural Areas (PURA), an ambitious concept of Kalam in the district.
Wider expansion plans for the museum are on the anvil which had also been discussed with Kalam.
“We would try to uphold his vision to upgrade the museum to an institution with national standards. If he were alive, he would have brought things to the attention of those concerned in the Union Government,” said Indira Rajan.
It was planned to set up a special building and other research organisations in defence and atomic energy and the Cochin University of Science and Technology would be able to conduct experiments and join in as partners too, G Madhavan Nair, former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), had said during the launch of the museum.
It was the Global Education Foundation that had provided the space for the museum.