When I grew up I wanted to be a spaceman … now I am!

Published on Sunday 14 June 2009 21:59

CHILDREN watching the latest Star Trek movie featuring a young Jim Tiberius Kirk and Spock training at the Starfleet Academy can only dream of such intergalactic adventures.

But for teacher David Grigor, his lifelong ambition of becoming an astronaut is one step closer after winning a scholarship to the US Space and Rocket Centre in Huntsville, Alabama.

This month, Mr Grigor, 40, will undergo an intensive week-long space training programme, including Nasa aerodynamics and aeronautics, floating in zero-gravity, simulated space shuttle take-offs and emergencies, and building a colony on Mars.

However, instead of blasting into space, Mr Grigor, a learning support teacher at Berwickshire High School in Duns, will use what he has learned from Honeywell Educators@Space Academy in classes to inspire the next generation of scientists, mathematicians and even artists.

The UK's space industry employs more than 16,000 people and has an annual turnover of approximately 5 billion, but it is struggling to recruit staff.

Leading astronomer Sir Patrick Moore, presenter of the world's longest-running television series, The Sky at Night, said: "I think what David is doing is tremendous. I'm all for it, it's the sort of thing I've been trying to do for years. It sounds extremely good and exactly the sort of thing a good teacher would go for."

Mr Grigor, from Edinburgh, said he was "ecstatic" when he found out he had a place at the space academy.

"I was over the moon. I was jumping up and down. I took the letter into school to show the other teachers and they were all saying 'congratulations'."

Mr Grigor's fascination with space began when he was a toddler and watched footage of Neil Armstrong walking on the Moon. He said: "I remember listening intently to all the strange sort of beeps and echoes of the his radio transmission from outer space. From then on I was always drawing rockets and asking for a telescope. I've followed all the Nasa missions."

Mr Grigor said he would be bringing back CD-Roms and thousands of digital images for classroom presentations.

"I'll be bringing something highly original back from the space academy and using it in lessons to get pupils enthused about space.

"Children who find it hard to achieve can become demoralised quickly, but I'll have a way of capturing their imagination.

"On the problem-solving side, I'll get them comparing things like the biological and chemical changes in the body in zero-gravity compared to Earth but make it good fun.

"I trained as an art and design teacher so I want to get pupils, especially boys, painting what they think space looks like and getting them to talk about it."

Thomas Buckmaster, president of Honeywell Hometown Solutions, said: "The Honeywell Educators@Space Academy programme gives teachers a unique experience that heightens their ability to become even more effective educators.

"Especially in the areas of science, technology, engineering and maths, it is critical that teachers are given the opportunity to reinvigorate their classrooms with an evolved teaching style that helps provide students with an engaging and unforgettable learning experience."

This summer, 272 teachers from 19 countries will take part in the space programme.

Professor Colin McInnes, who runs the spacecraft engineering research group at the University of Strathclyde, said: "The space tourism sector will slowly grow in the future, but right now there is a whole range of opportunities using space technology, including satellite communications which is a massive multi-billion industry."

Scotland is leading the way in pioneering the building of CubeSats micro spacecraft which fits in the palm of your hand.

Craig Clark, managing director of Clyde Space, a Glasgow-based developer and supplier of CubeSats, and power systems for spacecraft, said: "It's predicted that the space industry will grow by 50 per cent in the next ten years. CubeSats are launched by rockets and are in demand from armies and governments. We're also developing a camera to put on them for monitoring environmental changes in oceans or deforestation, which should create more job opportunities."

A SCOTTISH ODYSSEY

&#149 Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon on 20 July, 1969, has Scottish blood. His ancestors came from Langholm in Dumfriesshire.

&#149 The first Scot in space was test pilot Brian Binnie. In 2004, his pioneering SpaceShipOne won a 5 million prize after becoming the first privately-manned craft to reach space.

&#149 One of the biggest cult movies of all time – 2001: A Space Odyssey – was filmed almost entirely in a studio, except for one scene. Harris in the Outer Hebrides was chosen as ideal terrain to depict the surface of Jupiter.

&#149 Arthur C Clarke, who wrote the novel 2001, was part of the Paisley Rocketeers, regarded as the world's first amateur rocketry group.

&#149 Devil Girl From Mars (1954) features Nyah, a leather-clad woman from Mars, who lands in the Highlands to recruit virile males after a battle on the Red Planet wiped out most of the men.