A group of budding scientists from Years 7-8 visited a NASA Astronaut at the Otago Museum Planetarium.

Dr Shannon Walker lived in space for over a year during two missions and shared captivating personal stories of life in zero gravity. She inspired our rangatahi by explaining all the job opportunities in the field of space and technology in development to explore habitats on the Moon, Mars and beyond in their lifetime.

Shannon was impressed by the insightful questions our ākonga asked and we discovered fascinating facts, such as there may be water at the South Pole of the Moon. It takes only 8.5 minutes to reach space but 1-2 days to catch up with the International Space Station orbiting Earth. In contrast, it will take about 6 months to travel to Mars but it is certainly not a one-way trip. She encouraged us all to keep curious, keep questioning and imagine the infinite possibilities out there to explore.

Kā mihi,

Davina