To commemorate the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 mission of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) near the South Pole of the moon on August 23, 2023, Government of India declared August 23 as the National Space Day. As part of this, nationwide celebrations, including zonal and state level events, are being organised by various ISRO centers/units.

NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), a Govt. of India company under Department of Space and the commercial arm of ISRO, organised a 1-day event on August 2, 2024 to celebrate the National Space Day 2024 at ISRO Headquarters, Antariksh Bhavan, Bengaluru.

The event received nearly 100 applications from various schools and colleges in Karnataka. Of which, nearly 20 schools from Bengaluru and 5 colleges from Karnataka were invited for participation in the event that featured a 'Space quiz' contest for the high school students and a 'Start-up pitch' contest for the engineering students. The event also witnessed expert talks delivered by Dr. P. Veeramuthuvel, Project Director, Chandrayaan-3 about the mission specifics and Dr. Dinesh Kumar Singh, Director, Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) about Gaganyaan mission.

Dr. S. Somanath, Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, ISRO along with Radhakrishnan Durairaj, Chairman and Managing Director, NSIL joined the valedictory session and addressed the audience. The enthusiastic students also had the chance to interact with Chairman, ISRO and ask a plethora of questions about space.

The theme for this year’s National Space Day is “Touching lives while touching the moon- India's space saga”. The final celebrations of the National Space Day will culminate at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi on August 23, 2024.