Helston Community College have 'Lift off'
November 22, 2017
Guest post by David Pollard
(The Careers & Enterprise Company)
Pupils from Helston Community College had a special visitor beamed into class recently to talk to them about space. Canadian astronaut Colonel Chris Hadfield joined the lucky students for a 30 minute Skype interview session. The students from Year 7 to 11 had the opportunity to ask him one question each, with topics ranging from ‘What is it like to sleep in space?’, to ‘Do you think it will be possible to inhabit Mars one day?’.
The event was organised by Science teacher Dr James Allen who was lucky enough to meet Chris Hadfield during the filming of the TV programme Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes in which Dr Allen finished in the top four.
Dr James Allen said: “I met Chris Hadfield during filming of the TV show and thought it would be a great idea to try and get him involved in a Q&A with students from school. I emailed some of his people and they managed to arrange it for us, it was an incredible experience for the students.”
One of the students lucky enough to ask a question during the interview was Toby Allen who was interested to find out what it was like to re-enter the Earth’s Atmosphere. He was surprised to find out that Chris ‘could see flames coming off of the shuttle outside his window’. Toby said: “The interview was a once in a lifetime opportunity, it has really inspired me to become a pilot when I leave school”, which is what Chris was before he became an astronaut.
The second half of the class session included a presentation from Enterprise Adviser, Kat Hickey, who works at Goonhilly Space Station and talked about the growing range of opportunities that students have in the space sector in the county. Kat said: “It was an incredibly aspiring talk from Chris and has been a great opportunity to highlight to Helston School students the opportunities that they could have in the future with some of the large and small organisations that work in the space sector in Cornwall.”
It was a fantastic event and in answer to the questions above, sleeping in space is ‘immensely comfortable with every muscle in the body being relaxed’ and Chris does believe that one day we will inhabit Mars, based on the fact that when he was born people had not even been to space.
In 2022, Holly Holmes, a then-Year-10 student from Cornwall, attended our Annual Summer School . Now in Year 12, Holly has kindly taken the time to update us on the impact that her time with us has had on her studies, confidence levels, and plans for the future. Thank you Holly for sharing your experiences in this brilliant blog post! We’re thrilled to hear that the experience meant so much to you!
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60 years ago today, on 11th July 1962, Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall, UK made world history.
The above image, and those below, were acquired from NOAA 18 (on 137.9125 MHz), and NOAA 19 (on 137.100 MHz) during daytime passes here at Goonhilly. In preparation for our annual Summer School programme , Goonhilly’s Deep Space Network Operators have been busy preparing a project that will enable students to receive images from NOAA weather satellites. During the practical demonstration, students will be able to discover what the weather is currently doing across the North Atlantic and Western Europe. By repeating the receiving process several times, as the satellites pass over, the students will be able to track the weather over time, and predict how the weather here in Cornwall will change. In addition to equipping students with the theoretical and practical skills to receive real-time satellite transmissions for themselves, the project will also highlight the diverse ways in which we rely on Low Earth Orbit satellites in our everyday lives. Other projects and lessons planned for the attendees of the week-long programme will help them to learn about the different methods, materials, and techniques that make Goonhilly’s world-leading satellite communications work a reality. Here at Goonhilly, we believe in the value of a hands-on approach to complement theoretical learning. By preparing this project, the Deep Space Network Operations Team hopes to not only train valuable skills but also promote the enjoyment that comes from gaining knowledge via self-discovery. The team looks forward to offering the Summer School students an insight into what training as an Operator entails, and what it means to play a critical role in the UK’s future in space.
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