Meet an Astronaut

It’s not every day a student gets to meet an Astronaut at school, so it was a treat of universal proportions for Ardoch school partner students when they were offered the opportunity to attend the AMP Foundation’s Young Amplify event, featuring Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield.

No limit on numbers certainly has to be one of the biggest advantages to virtual events. This made it possible for our supporting partner, AMP Foundation, to extend the invitation to Ardoch schools. Twelve schools and 1087 students took the opportunity, and they certainly weren’t disappointed.

Chris captured every child’s undivided attention in an interactive performance packed with awe inspiring images and anecdotes. He shared his reflections on his own life and ambitions, his journey to piloting a rocket into deep space, and life on an international space station.

One of the great things about this event was the way Chris was able to relate something so seemingly unattainable as becoming an astronaut to the aspirations and dreams of every child. Scattered throughout his narration of fun facts and interesting anecdotes, about life on a space station and living without gravity, were so many gems of wisdom and inspiration.

Chris talked about curiosity. ‘I’ve never been bored. I am always imagining, not waiting for someone else to entertain me. There are so many things in the world to be curious about’.

Using encouraging words about COVID-19 and recovery, Chris invited self-reflective questions for the students to ask themselves, and talked about the importance of indigenous traditions and of learning your own history.
At the end of a fascinating hour of facts and anecdotes, Chris Hadfield’s parting words may have been the most inspirational of all when he said,

‘The only thing stopping us is our ability to imagine and our bravery to change ourselves.’