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Aberdeen pupil lands trip to NASA Space Center

Robert Gordon’s College pupil Calum Ashcroft is delighted that he has secured a place on a trip to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, with the Scottish Space School.

Calum who is currently in his sixth year at Robert Gordon’s is one of ten Scottish school pupils who have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to talk to many of the astronauts, engineers and scientists working on the space programme and to get a rare glimpse of the Johnson Space Centre, the Challenger Centre and George Observatory.

Calum commented, “2011 has been a great year for me as I achieved 5 A’s in my Higher results in the summer and have now been selected for the visit to Houston, which should be an amazing experience”.

Head of Sixth Year at the College, Mr Michael Elder, added, “One hundred talented pupils from all over Scotland attended the annual Scottish Space School at Strathclyde University in June. It’s therefore a tremendous achievement that Calum was one of those who successfully negotiated the rigorous selection process to become a member of the party which will travel to the Space Center next month”.

The Scottish Space School is a five day residential programme, co-ordinated by the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering and supported by the University’s Faculty of Engineering at Strathclyde. This gives pupils a unique insight into some of the career and educational opportunities available through studying science, engineering and technology. The programme included a visit by Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Artsebarsky, NASA astronaut Alvin Drew and Spacecrafts Systems Engineer Amber Gell.

Gordon McVie, Outreach Coordinator at the University of Strathclyde’s Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering said, “We were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and knowledge of this year’s Scottish Space School intake. Among them will be the engineers of the future, and each and every one has a very bright future ahead of them. This will provide them with a great example of just what can be achieved by engineers and scientists – and the vast array of careers available through technology-based subjects.”

Professor Scott MacGregor, Dean of the University of Strathclyde’s Faculty of Engineering added, “The end of the shuttle programme brings with it the opportunity for Scotland to play a part in developing the next generation of space travel and at Strathclyde we are committed to making an impact of our own. We are committed to encouraging young people to consider careers in Engineering and Science and the Scottish Space School at Strathclyde programme allows them the opportunity to not only learn from the academics at Strathclyde but also to visit Houston and get a snapshot of the work undertaken by some of world’s top engineers and scientists.”

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