Astronomy Students Talk to The Astro Support Team

Year 11 took their first step towards making contact with the International Space Station this morning. They have all written an account of this fantastic experience.

 

We had the brilliant opportunity to talk to three people who were heavily involved in the workings of space travel. It was really inspiring to see all of our burning questions answered. Beth talked about her amazing adventure in Antarctica and Sergio/Tom gave career advice for a career in space. The best thing about the experience was talking to people who were actually working with astronauts and improving life in space. It was also great that we got to talk to Beth who was in Antarctica and she told us how it was -61.2C and she told us what it is like living on the coldest place on Earth!

Louis Daniels

In Astronomy we took part in a competition called ‘I’m an Astronaut Get Me out of Here!’  We had the opportunity to have a live chat with three members of the Astro Support Team. For thirty minutes we spoke to them, asking them questions and reading their responses. A lot of good questions were posted and we enjoyed reading all of their replies. If the people we spoke to decide to vote for us to win the competition then we will be able to chat to Tim Peake, the astronaut who will be aboard the ISS in two months’ time.

Daniel Pearce

The Live chat was great; every question we asked was answered with great answers.  They were really nice and friendly and very impressive. People asked from what their jobs are like on the ground to when do you think we will get to mars. I enjoyed posting my question then get a very detailed response and sometimes some pictures. This was a very memorable experience and would love to do it again.

Callum Bettis

At 9:25 the chat loaded and 3 of the Astro Support Team (Sergio, Beth and Tom) all welcomed us and allowed us to start asking questions. At first only a few of us started asking questions to see what kind of replies we would get. However after a bit everyone jumped in the chat with their questions. The answers were detailed and didn’t take long to be received. They also occasionally asked us questions which gave off the idea that it was an actual conversation about science. It was a great experience to have and hope we go through to next round.

Ryan Jones

In Astronomy today, we all had the chance to have a live chat with three members of the Astro support team. We all asked questions for thirty minutes and we then read all their responses. All the questions asked were brilliant and we also received some great responses. We all enjoyed reading the responses we received. The live chat included Tom Morse, Sergio and Beth Healey. If those three people vote for us, we’ll have the chance to talk to astronaut Tim Peake in a live chat. We all gained a lot from this experience because all the questions we wanted the answer too were answered superbly.

Joshua Gibson

We had some small issues with the computers being slow but after a short amount of time, they were working fine. With our questions ready, we waited for the live chat to open. After the chat opened we said our hellos and started asking our questions. I asked questions such as Do you think that if humans were to colonise mars, then would we need to have special medication to combat the different living conditions/diseases? And got some really nice answers. I enjoyed the whole experience and all the answers were great!

Jordan Bettis

We had a couple of lessons preparing for this day, researching on the astro support team and thinking up questions. The day came and after a briefly terrifying moment of some computers being extremely slow to load, we all ended up in the chat. We asked plenty of questions and Beth, Tom and Sergio gave back some great answers. They told us about living on Mars, the equipment on the ISS and living in Antarctica. They were friendly and answered literally all our questions.

Louis Bailey

In our year 11 astronomy class we got an amazing opportunity to enter the I’m an astronaut get me out of here completion, in this competition we can ask questions to members of the Astro Support members and then we vote on who we think answered the questions the best if. We were also lucky enough to be involved in a live chat with Tom Morse, Sergio and Beth of the Astro team. This proved to be a great experience as we got to ask as millions of questions to find out about what they are doing and how it will affect the future space exploration!

Sophie Gannon

At 9:25 the live chat started and we all said hello! Questions were frequently asked by the class and Beth, Tom and Sergio all replied pretty quickly! At first only about 2-3 people from the class were brave enough to send their questions and with a quick time response the questions flew in. All of the team (Beth, Tom and Sergio) also fired back questions at us, which really put us on the spot and was quite fascinating. All in all the team were a big help and provided some great responses and it was a great success.

Kamen Williamson

When we got on the web chat, all we saw was “Hello!” and “Hi!” from the Astro Support Team, whose names were Tom Morse, Sergio and Beth Healey. I asked everyone two questions each for example “How long does it take for the rocket fuel to burn when the rocket is going up to space?” And they answered with paragraphs of information. We all asked questions about the Principia mission and questions on the International Space Station (ISS) I really enjoyed the experience as it answered a lot of my questions about space.

Liam Shorrock

Today we had an opportunity to ask questions via a web chat to Sergio, Beth and Tom from I’m an astronaut.  They will help Tim Peake on his Principia mission in November 2015. Tom will make the instruments for the space craft for example cameras. Sergio’s role is to look after the crew in The ISS and Beth’s role is to learn the effects of spaceflight missions and the health of the astronauts on the international space station. We asked them various different questions ranging from colonizing on mars and what will happen to the  ISS when its mission ends.

Ben Hughes

We spoke to 3 people that work for the ESA and are working on the principia mission to keep Tim peakes on the I.S.S for 6 month at one time. We got the privilege to talk to 3 members of the astro support team their names Tom Morse, Sergio and Beth Healey, we got to ask the question about what they do and what they do for the principia mission. This was also a competition between the schools in the UK that do GCSE astronomy, if we win we will get the exclusive chance to speak with Tim peakes on the I.S.S.

Samuel Naden

We had the amazing opportunity of talking to Beth, Tom, and Sergio, members of the team working on the International Space Station and the Principia mission. We asked them many questions to do with their jobs, opinions on important points, and just space in general.

We had interesting answers, pictures sent to us from the satellites, and Sergio providing solid advice into how to get into his field of work. (I also arranged to meet him on a boat in order to watch the ISS burn up!) The entire experience was unforgettable and it has inspired me to work even harder in getting into the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) field of work.

Ross McGrory