An Excellent Evening at the Planetarium

As part of their 40th anniversary celebrations Armagh Planetarium had a very special guest for the day on Thursday - Space Shuttle, Mir and Space Station Astronaut Dr Michael Foale. Dr Foale explained how he grew up in Lincolnshire - his father was an RAF pilot and crucially, his mother was a US citizen. After Cambridge University where he took a degree and a doctorate, Dr Foale went to work for NASA and started applying for the Astronaut Corps. He got in at the third go in 1987 and flew on STS-45 in 1992 and five other shuttle missions, then went on to spend four months on the Russian Mir space staion followed by a six month stint on the International Space Station as Commander of the Eighth crew.

Dr Foale entertained us with his stories and films of life in zero gravity, showed us footage of the launches of both Shuttle and Soyuz craft from inside the capsules and outlined his view of the future of space exploration post-shuttle.

This was a fantastic talk with something for everyone!

Here's my snaps.....

Michael Foale with Planetarium Director Dr Tom Mason



The Audience



Dr Foale was very happy to pose for photos - very much appreciated!



Many Thanks are due to the Planetarium for putting this event on, and of course to Dr Foale for coming along to talk to us!