PARENTS

MSJ launched its involvement in ‘Mission X’, a NASA developed educational challenge, by welcoming a very special visitor last week.

‘Bridget’ Rover, a full scale working prototype of a Mars Rover, landed at the school on 6th February coinciding with the start of our involvement with Mission X: Train Like an Astronaut – an international educational challenge developed by NASA scientists and fitness professionals and supported by the UK Space Agency. The rover was accompanied by Lester Waugh, Engineering Manager for Astrium Ltd which commissioned the Bridget prototype.

The visit was part of a prize won by 9-year-old pupil Evie Sambrook in a National competition to design a Mars rover. Evie fought off exceptional competition to win the UK Space Agency sponsored challenge - ‘Calling all Mars Explorers’ - to design a new rover for a future trip to Mars.

Evie’s classmates and fellow pupils were treated to an exciting and inspiring presentation from Lester Waugh, one of the professionals responsible for the development of ‘Bridget’. As well as finding out more about the development of rover exploration, eight pupils pitted their strength against ‘Bridget’ in a tug of war and others were given the chance to control the state-of-the-art rover for themselves.

“This special visit from ‘Bridget’ and Lester has been the ideal way to kick off our involvement in Mission X,” said Mrs Woodhouse.

“It has truly inspired and motivated our young space explorers to complete their challenges for Mission X over the next few months, as well as reinforced their excitement about the future of space travel,” she added.

“It was an absolute pleasure to visit Evie at her school and share ‘Bridget’ with her friends and fellow pupils,” said Lester Waugh, Astrium Engineering Manager. “A visit such as this really helps to de-mystify space exploration and reinforce just how many different subject areas are included within the Space industry from mathematics and physics to fitness and nutrition.”

“I also very much enjoyed the presentation from Year 5 pupils involved in Mission X – even learning something new myself today” he said.