Nasa-bound pupils get helping hand from Neil Armstrong

A group of Perth High School pupils are “over the moon” to have been given the opportunity to go to a Nasa Space Camp in Houston, Texas.

Nine youngsters, aged 14-17 will embark on the trip to the International Space School this weekend.

Support for the pupils’ autumn trip came from Neil Armstrong. This one has never left the planet, never mind walked on the moon. However, in his role as engineering director with Perth-based oil and gas engineering company Merlin, he has helped the students with a technology research project in anticipation of their visit to the United States.

The children will be accompanied on their trip to Nasa by Perth High School physics teacher Sinead NiRiain.

She said the support of Mr Armstrong and his colleagues had been invaluable.

“The space station uses solar power so it was really useful to carry out research on the hi-tech solar SmartFlower equipment at Merlin,” she said.

“It was great to see them getting to know each other better and begin to work as a team to analyse data and prepare a presentation. I am sure this will help with the challenges they will face at Nasa.”

During their week immersing themselves at the Nasa headquarters, the teenagers will take part in engineering and computing tasks.

They will also receive basic astronaut training, including micro-gravity underwater robotics challenges.

The pupils leave for Houston on Sunday and return to Perth on October 20.

Picture: PPA. The pupils and their teacher with Iain Hutchison and Neil Armstrong from Merlin.