Science: Unlocking Potential
Dr Caroline Oprandi keeping you up to date with science & technology at PACA
On Thursday we had the astronaut Ken Bowersox visit the school. For me, it was just like being a kid again and waiting for Christmas morning! Ken Bowersox is from Houston Texas and is a former NASA astronaut with experience of five Space Shuttle Missions, two as Commander and a long duration Space Mission as the Commander of the International Space Station. Ken has been a Space Shuttle pilot, conducted science experiments in Space, carried out Space walks and was involved in the Hubble Space Station repair mission. He has travelled ~85 million miles in Space in 211 days. 
Ken held the pupils’ attention for over an hour showing them video footage from the International Space Station and some truly amazing pictures taken from Space. Pupils and staff alike were totally enthralled and had plenty of questions for him at the end. Questions ranged from what was it like to experience zero gravity, what did it feel like when walking back on earth again and was there ever any evidence of other life forms?
Ken encouraged the pupils to follow their dreams. Ken stressed that if he can be an astronaut, then anyone can. Above all, he told the pupils never to be afraid to make mistakes. I really liked this one since it fits in with one of my favourite Einstein quotes “a person who never made a mistake never tried anything new”.
Ken also delivered a very powerful message about world peace. In the International Space Station Ken worked alongside Russian Astronauts. He explained that one of his Russian colleagues was formerly in the Russian military but now they were working side by side in Space. Ken explained that he no-longer thought of home as being a town, city or state but he saw Earth as his home. As highlighted by Katie Scott, PACA’s head teacher “ one of the most profound things that Kenneth Sox said was about landing in Kazakhstan, 500 miles away from where they were supposed to land, and still feeling like they had come home”.
There was, however, one not so lovely picture in his presentation and this was a picture taken from space during the Iraq war. Ken said that rather than spending money on weapons, if the world spent money on international space exploration then there would still be money left over. He highlighted that Space exploration brings communities together like nothing else can, breaking down international borders. If the space crew were being interviewed in Russia they would wear the American NASA uniform; whereas if they were in America they would wear the Russian one, just to make a point.
Everyone in the room will remember Ken’s words and it is a lesson in world peace that the pupils will never forget. Thank you Ken and thank you Chris for organising. Truly amazing and quite simply ‘out of this world’!
Portslade Aldridge Community Academy (PACA) is a college offering sixth form, 11-16 years, youth centre, adult learning, community education, sports centre and pre-school. Find out more at www.paca.uk.com
