NASA s 60th SALUTES HEROES OF SPACE AGENCY

been able to see through that telescope is amazing. It really opened up what is out there.

“And to this day it still captures the imagination because the quality of those images is beautiful.”

Helen, who was made a CMG by the Queen at Windsor Castle earlier this year for her services to science and technology, believes that NASA will continue exploring beyond our planet for another 60 years to come. She stresses that NASA should honour its own strengths and aim for more collaborative projects like the International Space Station and the Hubble telescope.

And she adds that NASA needs to give way to private commercial space enterprises such as Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and America’s Spacex to enable it to continue with its ground-breaking work.

She said: “There was an initial reluctance and snobbishness with NASA thinking no one can do it better than them, but they need to give ground to the commercial space travel companies. NASA should be welcoming these partnerships.

“They can do the day-to-day stuff – everything from supplying the ISS, which they’re now doing, to space hotels.

“That releases NASA funds to do the real serious exploration, like sending humans to Mars and carrying out internationally collaborative projects that will tell us so much about the universe.”

Much has been achieved by NASA in the six decades since they launched their first satellite, Explorer 1, in 1958, and Helen encourages future generations to look to the stars and dream of what they too can achieve.

“I never expected to be an astronaut,” she said. “I lived a very normal life. No one from my country had been into space.

“Now having done it myself, I realise just because no one else has done it, doesn’t mean you can’t.

“You can be the first.”