Ground control to Major Neil... Neil Delamere, sitting in the hotseat for Anton was very excited to meet Andrea Boyd ahead of her special talk at Trinity College tonight (Tuesday, January 5). The man for whom Milky Ways, Mars Bars and Galaxy Bars were necessary tools in space exploration until he left Offaly chatted to Andrea about her role in the cosmic world of the International Space Station.
Andrea, is a Eurocom at the European Astronaut Centre, the centre of excellence for astronaut selection, training, medical support and surveillance. She has worked with all the top astronauts and maintains daily contact with Tim Peake, who is set to become a superstar astronaut in the mould of Chris Hadfield, a man who had a great soft spot for Ireland.
With many nations sharing space on the ISS, Neil had to ask if there was ever a chance an Irish astronaut could be on board. Andrea revealed that Ireland had been on the ISS, albeit by way of three scientific projects from St. Nessan’s Community College, UCD, UL and Limerick IT.
Could we bring Guinness to space? Have a listen...
Over the course of an entertaining chat, Andrea spoke about life in space, growing lettuce and tomatoes in space, how Tim Peake became the first British man in space, and how she went from working on automation and mining projects in Australia to becoming a space station engineer.
Andrea also recalled how Tim’s telephoning skills have got him into a spot of bother, not least on Christmas Eve night when during an attempt to call his family back home he wrongly phoned a 84 year old grandmother from space!
Pensioner Betty Barker hung up after hearing a strange man’s voice say: “Hello, is this planet Earth?” on Christmas Eve. Mrs Barker later apologised and Tim blamed it on a spreadsheet error.
Andrea, who is of Italian and Australian heritage, talked about was the chances of an Irish astronaut and answered a question we’ve all thought of (c’mon, admit it): just where do astronauts pee...
Andrea was in Dublin to for a one-off Astronomy Ireland ISS Public Lecture on Tuesday January 5th at 8pm at the Physics Building, Trinity College Dublin
For more on this, and other Astronomy Ireland events, log onto www.astronomy.ie and for event tickets to Tuesday’s event, log on here
