Astronauts

Can I meet an astronaut?

Yes. Astronauts often go back to their schools to say thank you for teaching them to be clever and brave. They usually speak to the children in the school. If you are lucky, they might even give you a photo of themselves.

A few children have even met the Apollo astronauts. Those children would be adults now and might have children of their own.

Very few Apollo astonaut photos remain. If you are lucky enough to see one, you could show it to your teacher and friends, but you must look after it because it would be very special to your parent.

Some astronauts recently went to Hamilton in New Zealand. They wanted to say thank you because New Zealand made a flag for them to take to space.

Astronaut doing a talk at school

What are astronauts like?

Astronauts are normal people, like you and me. But they display values that are very important in space: resilience, excellence, hard work, and bravery, for example.

Does your school have any of these values?

Which of your school values would be important in being an astronaut?

Astronauts can be men or women, but remember that everything floats in space. So, if you have long hair you must remember your hair ties.

Astronaut without her hair tie

How can I become an astronaut?

There are two types of astronauts

1. Astronauts who fly the spaceships.

These astronauts are usually pilots first of all. Once they have learned how to fly an aeroplane they then move on to spaceships.

2. Astronauts who do experiments in space.

These astronauts are scientists. They could be geologists who study rocks, biologists who study plants and animals, engineers who make things, and many others. To become a science astronaut, you must learn your favourite science until you are really good at it.

Both pilot astronauts and science astronauts studied very hard. If you want to be an astronaut and go into space, your first step is to try as hard as you can at school.