Nasa Hero flies into Bradford

C8 have successfully completed phase two of the lift off Bradford program with a visit by a top American astronaut who flew into Bradford to inspire children and young people to engage in science, engineering, mathematics and technology.

The two-day event began at the Yorkshire Planetarium, home to England’s only Carl Zeiss Starball projector and the county’s only dedicated 3D theatre, with a meeting of the Yorkshire Education & Space Network (the YESnet), where Brig-General Charles Bolden Jnr informed the group about how Space activity is used across education in the USA.

For the next day a conference at the University’s Norcroft Building had been organised, and titled ‘To Infinity And Beyond’, which kicked off a week of activities and workshops on the campus for the start of National Science and Engineering Week. Charlie met students, teachers and lecturers who were all inspired by his experience.

C8 was tasked to organize and manage the event including the food arrangements at The Yorkshire Planetarium where in the afternoon around 100 local business people and 60 local school children where invited to witness Bolden re-launch the Planetarium for 2009 and listen to him give an inspirational talk on his life and experiences. He stressed the importance of the business and education sectors working together in promoting science and engineering. Later the guests were given the opportunity to enjoy the planetarium’s star show and 3D theatre and to be photographed with the astronaut.

As well as being exciting, this visit was intended to inspire young people’s interest in space and make them think about Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics as possible careers. Having a real – life astronaut really helped in getting that message across to the students, who also had the opportunity to speak and ask Charlie questions about his life and career as a astronaut.

The event required a great deal of planning and communicating amongst many organisations including Space Connections, The Yorkshire Planetarium, Harewood House, Yesnet and Yorkshire Forward who where all supporting the event.

Liaising with the media was a key part of the process, given the high level of interest in the astronauts visit. C8 ensured that the right information reached the right people, from newspapers to TV and radio companies, and dealt with all media enquiries and requests.

‘’We were delighted with the organisation of the two day event when ex astronaut Charlie Bolden visited Bradford. C8 delivered an extremely professional service and exceeded our expectations. Thank you!’’

Helen Barraclough, Managing Director Space Connections.