SAI International School had the privilege of hosting Astronaut Jack Fischer for 4 days at the School. During his stay with us he was the Keynote speaker for SAITED our school’s annual TED Talk based on the concept of the infamous TED Talks taking place all over the world. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design it is devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks. TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today it covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. The idea to have an annual TED Talk at SAI was introduced three years ago, SAITED 2017 is the second talk to be held at the school. Astronaut Fischer’s morning started with a Traditional Welcome at Gate No. 4 followed by a small photo session with students and the School Leadership Team.

He then made his way to the stage where he spoke about his astonishing adventure in space describing it in great detail from the point the rocket lifted off to the eight minute journey into space and his return to earth in Sept 2017. He spoke about different types of rockets, his daily routine, scientific experiments, food rituals and his amazing space walks with over 128 hours logged. SAITED participants listen intently as he spoke about his childhood upbringing and his personal struggles. He ended with a wonderful quote challenging the audience to “Dare to Dream”.

After his talk he took pictures with many excited students not only from SAI but 22 other school from Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and the surrounding areas. He completed the day as he gave out awards to the SAITED Participants.

Astronaut Fischer continued his stay at SAI the following day as he presented his amazing story to the students of SAI Angan the Pre -Primary part of SAI International School.

His presentation was so interesting the students watched in awe, it was followed up with a 20 min question answer session allowing the young minds of SAI Angan to ask any questions they wanted. He spoke about his eating regime in space and how it feels to move in zero gravity. Students asked many questions even ones about his personal feeling about being away from his family for so many months. The programme ended with a small tokens exchanged between Mrs. Rashmi Pandey, Vice Principal of SAI Angan who gave a Patachitra which is a cloth-based scroll painting, based in the eastern Indian state, Odisha and Astronaut Fischer who gifted a signed poster of his space mission this past year.

Take a look at the above video about his visit to SAI Angan and his interaction with the students there. The following day comprised of a presentation to class IV who had not met Astronaut Fisher yet. The same sort of presentation was done with these students as before. The interactive session was interesting and students asked him questions about his service in the United States Air Force. Anshuman Patnaik of class IV asked about his knowledge of air crafts “How many types of aircraft have you flow and know how to fly?” he asked Astronaut Fischer to witch Fischer replied ” I have flown over 55 different types of air crafts during my 25 years of service in the U. S. Air Force. I am a test pilot which means that I test out new models of air crafts and see if they have any glitches and that they are safe to operate.”

His fourth and final day at the school comprised of an interview with SAI T.V. it covered his thoughts on India and his experience during SAITED. Take a look for yourself.

Astronaut Fischer also had the pleasure of visiting some historical places of Bhubaneswar including the Tribal Museum , Dholi Peace Pagota and Ram Mandir Temple learning about the history of the area and getting a closer look at Hinduism.

SAI International School would like to thank Astronaut Jack Fischer for choosing to come to our school and share his inspiring story, encouraging us to follow are dreams and never give up.

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