Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Helen out-of-this-world planetarium guest
Detectives rule out foul play in death of Aintree first female chairman
ARMAGH Observatory and Planetarium is counting down to a special online interview with the first UK astronaut to go into space.
Helen Sharman will take part in AOP’S 5 Questions With… series of interviews on Saturday at 4pm.
The event is being run on the planetarium’s Youtube and
Facebook channels after staff reached out to scientists and engineers around the globe.
Each interviewee answers five questions which are based on their research or experiences.
Ms Sharman will speak about her mission in 1991 and dealing with micro-gravity as well as
THE wife of a former Cabinet Minister has been found dead in woodland near their constituency home.
Tory MP Owen Paterson said the death of his “wonderful” wife Rose, 63, was a “terrible shock”.
The couple were married for 40 years and had three children.
West Mercia Police said: “The death is being treated as unexplained. There is believed to be no third party involvement.”
Mrs Paterson appeared in good health when she greeted neighbours on Tuesday afternoon while out riding. But a search was mounted overnight and her body was found in Ellesmere, Shrops, early yesterday – her husband’s 64th birthday.
Mr Paterson, a former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland under David Cameron, said: “It is with great sadness that I must inform you that my wife, Rose, has been found dead being the first woman to visit the Mir Space Station.
To tune in, follow Armagh Observatory and Planetarium on Facebook or Youtube.
For a full programme of events once the centre has reopened, visit www.armagh.space.
The Armagh Planetarium was at our family home in Shropshire. Rose and I were married for 40 happy years. She was a wonderful, caring wife, mother and grandmother.”
Mrs Paterson, daughter of the fourth Viscount Ridley, was chairman of Aintree Racecourse and a board member of the Jockey Club. Boris Johnson sent his condolences to the family. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he was “numb”, tweeting: “I’ll never forget her very practical kindness when she helped me when I was starting out.” Her death came hours after she was dragged into the Robert Jenrick planning scandal. She was named among Tory figures linked to a decision by the Housing Secretary to intervene in a planning row, after a council refused the Jockey Club’s plan to develop 318 homes and a hotel on greenbelt land at Sandown Racecourse in Surrey. founded in 1968 by Dr Eric Lindsay, the seventh director of the Armagh Observatory.
It is the oldest operating planetarium in the UK and Ireland, having celebrated 50 years in service on May 1, 2018, as the public face of space and astronomy in Northern Ireland.