Deputy Speaker Evans welcomes NASA Astronauts to the House of Commons
July 6, 2010
Nigel Evans, Member of Parliament for the Ribble Valley and Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, today welcomed 6 NASA astronauts of the Atlantis Mission to the House of Commons to brief schoolchildren on the life of an astronaut.
Speaking at the event, Mr Evans said,
“The UK Space industry is a world leader and of vital importance to the UK economy and particularly the Ribble Valley. The industry is not only concerned with manned missions into space. There are many ways in which space affects our daily lives, from the satellites that feed our communication and navigational systems to those that ensure the defence of our very way of life. BAE Systems is one of the companies that depend on the space industry and I am proud to have them based in Samlesbury in my constituency.
“Of course we must ensure that there is a new generation of people in the UK who are involved in the research, development and manufacture of goods pertaining to space. As such I was very pleased to today welcome 6 astronauts to the House of Commons to brief schoolchildren from all over the country on life as an astronaut. One of the things highlighted by the astronauts was the need to have authoritative knowledge of mathematics and physics. Departments in universities who teach these subjects have been closing up and down the country for decades and this is partly because of a sheer lack of demand. I think it is crucial that we promote these subjects and indeed the NASA astronauts have toured schools around the UK this week to try to encourage more engagement with them through talking about their experiences.
“I very much hope that a team of astronauts will return to the UK very soon and am pleased that Timothy Peake, a British trainee was last year accepted into the European Space Agency’s Astronaut Corps. Perhaps Timothy will accept an invitation to do a similar tour and assure young people in Britain that they too have a part to play in the various roles the space industry requires.”
Mr Evans is pictured centre with his Senior Parliamentary Adviser, Daniel O’Byrne on the left and Parliamentary Adviser, Alexander Cruz Vidal on the right. The astronauts in the row behind are, from left to right, Michael Good (2nd Mission Specialist), Stephen Bowen (3rd Mission Specialist), Garrett Reisman (1st Mission Specialist), Piers Sellers (4th Mission Specialist – Mr Sellers was a British citizen who was born and educated here before moving to the USA), Kenneth Ham (Mission Commander) and Dominic Antonelli (Shuttle Pilot).