Dominic Hasselberg (9BU), Anna Boulton (9EA), Anna Fischer (NASA) and Lara Stevens (9HY) by Sabina Reed)

Year 9 Students meet NASA Astronaut

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Anna Fischer is one of the longest serving astronauts in NASA's history and three lucky RHS students were given the opportunity to meet her and hear her speak.

Dominic Hasselberg 9BU, Anna Boulton 9EA and Lara Stevens 9HY, visited Hagley Community College where Anna treated everyone to an  informative slide show and discussion around her experiences and the challenges of space and technology. Famously, Anna was the first 'mum in space'.  For 14 months leading up to her flight Anna juggled her NASA training while caring for her daughter.  She worked as "Capcom", which is the person in mission control who communicates with astronauts already in orbit carrying out very long shifts.   Anna was assigned the job of designing her crew patch to represent her team's flight, STS-51-A. This was a lengthy flight of seven days & 23 hours, with their mission focused on retrieving and dispatching satellites.  Following a break from NASA to have and care for her 2nd child, Anna returned as Chief of the space station branch.  She retired in 2017.

A truely wonderful role model for our students to meet.