The scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have named an organism discovered by them after the legendary Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam as a token of honour and tribute to him.

Dr. Kalam is the one who had set up the first ever rocket launching facility in India in the village of Thumba in Kerala. Before that in 1963, he had perceived his early training at NASA. The world honours him as an acclaimed aerospace scientist.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is the foremost lab of NASA for work on inter-planetary travel where the researchers are carrying out their work. The organism discovered at the International Space Station (ISS) is a form of bacteria and has been only found there and not on earth. It was found on the filters of the ISS. It is named Solibacillus Kalamii, after the honourable Dr. Kalam. A senior scientist of the Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group at JPL, Dr. Kasthuri Venkateswaran said that since the bacteria is not found on earth doesn’t make it an extra-terrestrial that is someone from the outer space.

The naming of the bacteria after Dr. Kalam was very obvious for Dr. Venkateshwaran and his team.