Kalam visited the birthplace of US' space programme, The University of Alabama and toured the NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center last week.

"This is truly a remarkable event in the history of our University. Not only is Dr Kalam a former Head of State, but he is the father of India's vibrant and productive space programme, a scientist, and a visionary," said David Williams, President of UAHuntsville, at the conclusion of Kalam's visit last week.

"To host him here on our campus is a most high honour, for which we are very grateful," he said. During his tour of the University, Dr Kalam visited research laboratories, interacted with faculty and staff, and spent time with many students.

"Huntsville is well known for its space research," Kalam said. Impressed with the research focus of the Huntsville community, Kalam said he was looking forward to the building of further scientific and educational relationships between the communities at the University and those in India.

Kalam's also toured the University's Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR), an internationally recognized centre of excellence in space plasma, astrophysical, and aeronomic research.

Scientists and students from this research centre, including many scientists from India working at the University, presented work ranging from the study of interactions between the Solar Wind and the Earth's Magnetosphere, to the most powerful explosions in the Universe, known as gamma-ray bursts.

"As we become more dependent on our space-based assets, such as satellites for weather prediction, crop monitoring, or even cell-phone use, we must understand more deeply the space environment into which we place these valuable assets," Dr John Horack, UAHuntsville's Vice President for Research said.

The former President also visited the SERVIR laboratory located at UAHuntsville. The SERVIR program, sponsored by NASA and the United States' Agency for International Development (USAID) integrates satellite observations, ground-based data, and forecast models to monitor and forecast environmental changes, and to improve response to natural disasters.

During the visit, Kalam met with researchers and discussed efforts to shorten the response time to fires in Central America, to improve the fishing industry of El Salvador, to track West Nile Virus in Africa, and to monitor deforestation in Guatemala and Mexico.

"I have a vision of India where each of our 200,000 children each plant five trees," noted Dr Kalam. "In this way, we would be able to plant a billion trees in India, to help preserve our land, improve our climate, and make our environment more sustainable.

A project such as SERVIR would serve as a tremendous resource to help track our progress to this goal. Kalam also met Huntsville's Indian Business Community at the US Space and Rocket Center, under a full-scale Saturn V rocket, the vehicle that took humans to the Moon. There, he met with Indian students from Bangalore, attending a week-long session of Space Camp in Huntsville.

During his remarks, Dr Kalam related his meeting of Dr Wernher von Braun, regarded as the father of the US Space Programme. "When I met von Braun, he told me that his mission was to remove the word 'impossible' from our language," he said.