VIDEO: From outer space to Victory Park, meet Don Thomas
VICTORY PARK – This man literally reached for the stars.
Retired Nasa astronaut and engineer Dr Don Thomas has been touring South Africa urging youngsters to take maths seriously if they want to reach the stars.
Thomas was in South Africa at the invitation of Living Maths, a Stem-based NGO that promotes the importance of mathematics to schoolchildren. His trip had him talking to space lovers in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg from 30 October to 9 November.
WATCH Don Thomas talks about his experiences
The Johannesburg leg of his trip saw the former astronaut visiting King David PrimaryVictory Park.
Thomas said, “The main objective of the programme [Living Maths] is to get children excited about maths and science. To inspire them to work harder in school and never give up on their dreams.” He went on to say they want to be able to motivate youngsters to become astronauts and astrophysicists.
Thomas (62) made his first trip to space aboard STS-65 Columbia on 8 July 1994 and went on to set a new flight duration record as he and his crew only returned 15 days later (23 July 1994). Thomas went on to successfully complete three other missions to space, in total he has spent 44 days in space and orbited the earth 692 times.
“The biggest challenge of going to space is getting all the information you need in your head,” he said.
This is information on what course of action must be taken if things do not go according to plan.
He added, “We can’t forget anything as it could result in the death of me and my crew.” There are rewarding times, like when they get to fly in jets and go underwater in spacesuits.
When asked what astronauts actually do in space, Thomas said, “Every mission has different objectives. Some missions are to carry satellites to space, others are to perform experiments at zero gravity and others are to observe the earth and universe.”
He shared how in space, flames burn perfectly round and plants’ roots grow in all directions, unlike on earth, due to gravity.
Thomas spoke of his first experience of going to space.
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