Mr Cripps wearing a genuine Apollo flight suit and Jim Lovell's Apollo 13 gloves

 Together with seven other teachers from Norfolk schools and another 40 teachers from around the country, I  visited Kennedy Space Station in Florida for a week-long training course in space education at the end of May 2003. The course was organised by  the International Space School Educational Trust (ISSET).    ISSET has been sending teachers on these courses since 1999.   The idea is to develop skills and ideas that introduce inspiring space science into schools.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) works with ISSET to provide access to their astronauts, engineers, space scientists, educators and facilities.    I was also able to see parts of the Space Port that are not open to the public and handle artefacts from the history of space flight.  

Due to the generosity of NASA I  have returned to school with lots of space based teaching materials some of which we will integrate into your courses.   I also have made contacts at NASA who will help you carry out your space projects both in the Astronomy Club and in the curriculum of the school and college.  This has added to our growing worldwide network of space scientists and technologists.  There will also be the opportunity to have NASA astronauts, engineers and scientists visit us at school and for students to visit NASA centres in the USA themselves.

At the moment I am working on Our Star*: Mission to Mars a project that centres around the solar wind and its impact on space flight.   This fits well with the Our Star* activities.   Our link scientist on that project, Dr. Helen Mason , is the  Assistant Director of Research at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University and is a World leader in solar physics research.   Helen has herself been heavily involved with NASA, first through SkyLab and then the Solar Maximum Mission, Spacelab, YOHKOH and SOHO.  She is now working on the joint UK/USA/Japan solar satellite SOLARB. 

NASA and ISSET education programmes exist to help supply the worldwide need for capable and inspired scientists and engineers.   Our own main sponsor, the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 has that same aim.  You cannot get to the Moon, Mars and the Sun, gather data from the beginning of time or develop a completely new type of vacuum cleaner with second rate science and people who see what they are doing as just a job.  My belief is that the development of revolutionary technologies takes inspiration, enthusiasm and dedication, and finds its seeds in young people like you.

 I hope that the growing number of innovative activities carried out by our club will make a small contribution to these lofty aims, but as a club member there is only one requirement; you should enjoy what you are doing.  The thrill of finding a comet on your own with one of our telescopes, capturing Jupiter with its cluster of sparkling moons using a digital camera or just lying on your back looking up at a starry sky knowing something about the immensity of what you are looking at, can be life enhancing experiences.   If you never fancy being a professional scientist or engineer, that's not a problem.

To teachers in other schools visiting our site, I unreservedly recommend the ISSET course to you.

The cost of the ISSET training was jointly funded by Neatherd High School Beacon School funds and The Exchange - Norfolk Education Business Exchange Ltd.