Outer space is about to come into sharp focus in Queenstown.
Catalyst Trust’s hosting a series of ‘‘Spacetober’’ events, complete with astronaut Dr Shannon Walker, who spent 330 days living in Earth orbit on the International Space Station.
In 2010, Walker piloted the Soyuz spacecraft which took her and her crew to the ISS where she served as a flight engineer for six months.
Then, in 2020, she was mission specialist on board the Resilience, for the first operational-crewed flight of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft to the ISS.
On arrival, she became ISS flight engineer and space station commander for another six months.
Not long after her return to Earth last May, she started training the next generation, becoming the supervisor for the 2021 class of astronauts.
Walker, who holds a bachelor of arts degree in physics, a masters of science and a doctorate in philosophy in space physics, all from Houston’s Rice University, started out with the Rockwell Space Operations Company at the Johnson Space Centre in 1987 as a robotics flight controller of the Space Shuttle programme.
She was first selected by NASA to be an astronaut in 2004.
On November 1, she’ll speak at the Queenstown Memorial Centre from noon till 1pm.
During the hour-long event, dubbed ‘Space: The next generation’, Walker will discuss current and next steps in mankind’s long arc toward the stars, and how the next generation of lunar astronauts are returning humanity to the moon through NASA’s Artemis programme.
She’ll also talk about the next generation of spacecraft, space probes and satellites which are opening up new frontiers of exploration and discovery, and creating more opportunities than ever for space-based careers.
Meantime, tonight, from 6pm at The Rees, Queenstown-based astrophysicist and founder of the Nobel award-winning Supernova Cosmology project, Professor Brian Boyle, will talk about discoveries in the fields of astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology, like dark energy and the expansion of the universe.
From Scotland, Boyle had a research career based in Australia since 1996, and was involved in science-direction setting there for more than 15 years, playing a major part, nationally and internationally, in the ‘Square Kilometre Array’ programme, to build the world’s largest cm-wavelength radio telescope.
e was awarded the Centenary Medal for services to Australian astronomy in 2003, and elected as a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2006.
Registrations for both events are via Eventbrite — mask-wearing and koha is welcomed, with all donations going to the Winterstellar Charitable Trust.
