Andrew Griffith

At the weekend, like many across the world, I watched live the dramatic spectacle of two NASA astronauts blasting off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida as our friend and ally, the USA, returned to manned space flight after almost a decade’s break.

This inspirational achievement by Spacex, the private company that built the Falcon 9 rocket, has provided science with a new lifeline between Earth and the International Space Station orbiting overhead. In February, as a member of the Parliamentary Space Committee, I was privileged to visit the NASA Kennedy Space Centre myself to be briefed ahead of the launch of the Solar Orbiter – a Ukdesigned and manufactured specialist satellite which is travelling to the centre of the solar system, where it will conduct experiments and send back data, helping scientists to learn more about our Sun.

The UK’S own significant capabilities in space exploration are not always fully appreciated and I hope Saturday’s launch will inspire the ambitions of a fresh generation of British scientists and innovators.

As a strong supporter of the local media, I am hugely disappointed to learn of the potential closure of our local radio station Spirit FM.

After having served the West Sussex community since 1996, its parent company was bought by Bauer, a German media conglomerate which has announced plans to close its Chichester broadcasting studios and rebrand it as a national Greatest Hits station.

To protect our vital local news and traffic media which make a real difference to our communities across the South Downs, I would encourage readers to sign the petition to keep Spirit FM broadcasting as a locally-based, dedicated station for West Sussex: www. change.org/p/bauer-media-save-spiritfm. To be fair, Bauer are impacted by the dominance of the BBC in local radio and the rise of the unregulated and undertaxed tech giants like Facebook, but let’s save Spirit.

Finally, next week is Carers’ Week. This annual awareness campaign was first established 26 years ago to raise the profile of both professional and family carers for the vulnerable in our society. This year has shown why it is more important than ever to recognise the key contribution made by the UK’S 6.5 million carers. Their dedication to playing an essential role supporting those who are older, disabled or seriously ill has always been important, but never more so than through the difficulties of Covid-19.

It is important to recognise their patience and compassion, much as we have been doing each Thursday through this pandemic.