Kolkata: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has denied selecting Sataparna Mukherjee, the 18-year-old girl from West Bengal, for the NASA Goddard Internship Programme (GIP).


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Sataparna Mukherjee had claimed bagging the prestigious scholarship a few days ago.


 


However, NASA has sent a clarification to DNA on e-mail, saying: “We have no record of anyone by that name receiving an internship, scholarship or any form of academic or financial assistance from any NASA institute, centre or program”.


Mukherjee had claimed that the internship would allow her to pursue a PhD in Aerospace Engineering at "NASA’s London Astrobiology Centre".


However, NASA has stated that that they do not have any facility in London and the internship is awarded to US citizens only.


 


“The NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies has no facilities in London and all of the institute's internships are awarded to students who live within 50 miles of its location in New York City,” the reply stated.


When the daily contacted Mukherjee about her response to NASA's denial, she said: “They are denying it because we had signed a contract which said we cannot divulge anything relating to the internship program. It’s extremely confidential and now that it is out in the open, they are denying it.”