International Women's Day is observed on March 8th to recognize women’s prosperity and contribution to social, political, social and financial events. It is additionally recognized to make individuals mindful of women’s issues. Indian women have long been bringing laurels to the country, and most recently, one such accomplished Indian - American once again drew the attention of the world to Indians and specifically women’s contribution to deeper exploration of space. This Women’s Day 2021 we salute the women in space—The women who have been role models to a generation of scientists across the globe.

Dr. Swati Mohan, a scientist at NASA, played a central role in the Mars 2020 mission, which completed its first-ever mission to land on the surface of Mars on February 18th, 2021. Dr. Mohan, who heads the steering and navigation systems operations for NASA, played a key role as principal investigator and lead mission engineer and was responsible for the NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance Mission's leadership, navigation, and control.

Another famous Indian astronaut Kalpana Chawla is a pride for India as well as for NASA. She was the first Indian woman to go to space. She was one of the seven crew members who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster when the spacecraft disintegrated during its re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere in 2003.

Sunita Williams born to Indian-Slovenian guardians, is the second Indian lady to enter space. She has to her record two trips to the International Space Station (ISS). With 29 hours of the spacewalk and an aggregate of over 195 days in space, Williams has established precedents for both as a female aeronaut.

Like them, numerous other Indian women astronauts are going for the skies as influential space researchers, engineers, satellite launchers, rocket designers and undertaking heads of complex interstellar missions. Expanding the limits of science on Earth, they are breaking the glass ceiling to inspire millions.

• Dr. Madhulika Guhathakurta, Astrophysicist and scientist with NASA's Heliophysics Science Division
• Dr. Anita Sengupta, an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Sharmila Bhattacharya is the Chief Scientist for Astrobionics and head of the Biomodel Performance and Behavior laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center
• Tessy Thomas also known as the “missile woman” of India is director general of aeronautical systems and the former project director for the Agni-IV missile at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). She is the first ever woman scientist to head a missile project in India.
• Ritu Karidhal Srivastava, deputy operations director of India‘s Mars orbiter mission Mangalyaan in 2013 & mission director of the Chandrayaan-2 mission at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). She has been referred to as a "Rocket Woman" of India.
• Muthayya Vanitha, project director of Chandrayaan 2, she has also initiated satellite projects such as the Cartosat-1, Oceansat-2 and Megha-Tropiques.

We salute all these space heroes this Women’s Day 2021. Each one of them in an inspiration and have conquered space in their own way!

Doesn’t this make you curious about space and make you want to learn more about it? So how can we explore space right here on Earth? Practically offers you several lessons, simulations, AR experiences and 3D videos to ‘reach for the stars’!

So how can you start flying with Practically?

• Explore 3D videos to see life-like content of planets in the solar system and Kepler’s Law of Planetary Momentum
• Check out AR experiences on Gravitational potential
• Simulations on Escape velocity can help to find the minimum velocity with which the object is thrown from the planet to escape its orbit
• Experience objects like Earth, spaceships and telescopes in the Out of Book section
• You can also ask Proton, your AI study buddy, about Mars, the moon, planets, galaxies and much more!
• Don’t forget that coding is an integral part of space missions. Practically’s coding classes online can help with coding foundation for engineering roles at ISRO, NASA and other space agencies
• Use our Test Prep section to take tests on the app to test your knowledge and see how far you have come!

Practically, the self-learning app, offers many more options for experiential learning and exploring outer space. So if you want to also aim for the moon (or Mars!), download Practically today and Don’t Just Learn, Learn Practically!

#PracticallyApp #Women #InternationalWomensDay #WomenPower #WomenEmpowerment #WomenInSpace #WomenInScience #WomenInEngineering #WomenInTech #Coding #ELearning