Over the moon as space rocket lands at school

Oct 2 2008 by Gary Fanning, Hamilton Advertiser

Over the moon as space rocket lands at school

BUDDING astronauts at a Hamilton primary were sent on a special mission this week when the UK’s largest space rocket visited their school.

Pupils discovered what it would be like be an astronaut and fly in space when the NOVA/Starchaser 4 blasted into Beckford Primary School’ sgrounds on Tuesday.

Pupils watched on with awe as the largest rocket ever launched from the UK mainland was on display at the school.

The NOVA/Starchaser 4 was launched from Morecambe Bay in November 2001.

It stands an impressive 43ft high on its launch pad.

Mrs Doreen Gibson, head teacher at Beckford Primary, said pupils were over the moon to see the rocket at the school.

“The group were successful in getting their message across to children that space and space age is not science fiction and it is real and is happening today.

“It’s not ridiculous anymore for a youngster to say that they want to be an astronaut when they grow up.

“The children were fascinated by the rocket and were delighted to be able to put questions to a real space scientist.

The company, which has been building rockets since 1992, told the children that they had a major objective to create and lead the potentially enormous market in commercial space travel and tourism.

The Starchaser team made a number of presentations throughout the day and displayed the NOVA/Starchaser 4 rocket at the school to help raise the profile of science and technology-based projects.

Steven Bennett, founder of Starchaser Industries Ltd, said: “We have recently entered into the manned phase of our programme following the successful drop tests on the Nova 2 capsule in the USA which is a significant milestone in the history of Starchaser.

“Having successfully launched NOVA, and the fact that we have recently test fired the largest rocket engine in the UK for more than 30 years, Starchaser now have the technology needed complete the project.”