It was a moment of cheer and celebration for the ten students who were the proud winners of “Destination NASA” Knowledge Challenge organised by www.24x7guru.com . These students along with each of their parent and school teacher boarded the plane today from New Delhi on their way to NASA, USA. The 9 days fully paid trip for the 42 member team involve visits to Washington DC, Indian Embassy, Washington Science Museum, Washington City tour, Orlando Sea World, Kennedy Space Centre Astronaut Training Experience / Epcot Centre, a full day trip to Disney World and the New York City.

The group of ten students who were eagerly awaiting their visit to explore and experience this dream journey had one common thing to say “Dreams of becoming an astronaut and visiting other galaxies always occupied our minds many a times. But actually visiting a space station and having real life experience to witness NASA's diverse and exciting missions of research, exploration, and discovery activity is a whole other story. We are excited as much as every one who made this possible for us.”

Congratulating the 10 winners who won the dream visit to NASA, Sanjiv Gupta, Director, Learnsmart India, said "24x7guru.com is proud to have conceptualized the knowledge contest for 1000’s of students who dared to dream and challenge them. We are proud to have been associated with such a talented group of participants and all those especially the teachers, parents and their school management who made Destination NASA a resounding success.”

Before embarking on their journey to US, the students along with their parents and teachers met Dr. Abdul Kalam, former President of India who congratulated the students on winning the challenge. He spent time with the students and shared his thoughts on the challenges ahead for students and how they can overcome these challenges. He had a word of praise for the entire team of 24x7guru.com who had organised the contest for students and hoped that they will continue to give opportunities for the students by organizing such challenging contests in the future. They also visited the US Embassy in New Delhi on an invitation from Mr. Peter G. Kaestner, Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs and interacted with the Consul-General, the American Center Director and Minister Counselor for Science and Technology.

Speaking on the occasion, K S Muralidhar, CEO, Learnsmart India, said, “The Destination NASA Knowledge challenge was designed with the objective of encouraging students, help them take more interest in their studies and enhance their online skills. In addition to creating a competitive environment and to make the students better equipped, the program was conceived to reward the teachers who play an invaluable and pivotal role in molding the kids.”

The 'Destination NASA', knowledge challenge kicked off in Mumbai on November 28, 2007 in the presence of the celebrated film personality Aamir Khan and ran across 13 cities. The online contest was organised by 24x7guru.com in association with Radio Mirchi The qualifying rounds were conducted in 2 phases in which over 49000 students from different schools registered.

The list of winners who won an all expense paid trip to NASA Space Center by 24x7guru.com

1. Shubham Lalwani, Class 9, R. N Podar School, Santa Cruz –W, Mumbai

2. Vivek Ranjan Maitrey, Class 9, City Montessori School, Mahanagar, Lucknow

3. Saurabh Sharma, Class 8, St. Kabir Public School, Sector-26,, Chandigarh

4. Twinkle Tushar Parekh, Class 8S. N. Kansagara School, University Road, Rajkot

5. Prafulla Sushil Dhariwal, Class 7, Dr. Kalamadi Shamarao High School, Ganesh Nagar, Pune

6. Shouvanik Chakrabarti, Class 7, Gitanjali Senior School, Hyderabad

7. Sneha Reddy Kudugunta, Class 6, Oakridge International School, Hyderabad

8. Saurabh Sharma, Class 6, Modern School, Barakhamba Road, Delhi –

9. Arpit Gupta, Class 10 DL DAV Model School, Pitampura, Delhi

10. Mehul Kumar, Class 10 Sanjay Public School, Tonk Road, Jaipur

From May 23, 24x7guru.com will feature a travel log in their website capturing all the 9 days of excitement right from the time these students along with their parents and teachers land in USA and all their experience in NASA.

URL: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/pressnews/24x7gurucom-nasa-knowledge-challenge-winners-go-to-nasa/15/37/339230