India, Aug. 17 -- Hundred students from rural areas of Pune district have been selected for educational exposure visits in September to NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) under a joint initiative of the Pune Zilla Parishad and the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune.

Of the selected students, 25 will visit NASA, 25 will visit ESA, and 50 will visit ISRO. This is the second year of the programme that aims to expose rural students to international space research. Last year, 25 students visited NASA and 50 students visited ISRO.

This year, the programme has been expanded with the inclusion of ESA. Shirur block recorded the highest number of selections thi...