Bradford College

NASA Visit Out Of This World

The WOW Academy has flown to America to visit one of the world's top space centres, ‘Kennedy Space Center’ in Florida.  The centre is named after the president who challenged American scientists to land a man on the moon.

The group from the WOW Academy jetted off on a week long visit to the space centre following a visit from NASA astronauts to Bradford last September. The centre includes a model of a space shuttle, which gives visitors an idea of the cramped conditions in which astronauts have to work and the famous Saturn V rockets, which took man to the moon!

The team from Bradford, including Hashim Hashim, Head of Innovations, spent a week visiting the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  They were given the opportunity to see the ‘Astronaut Hall of Fame’ and have a behind-the-scenes V.I.P tour of the centre. The group also had the chance to see real parts of a space station and NASA memorabilia.

Explaining the main reason behind the visit, Hashim Hashim said: “We invited NASA astronauts to Bradford last year, which was a joint collaboration between Yorkshire Forward, Bradford College and Space Connection Enterprises.  Following the success of the visit, Yorkshire Forward agreed to send delegates from Yorkshire to discuss a further collaboration with NASA on education and students programmes. We had discussions with various different organisations that work with NASA during the visit. Since our return to the UK, we’ve had a number of organisations contact us.  They’ve expressed a keen interest in building a network of educators interested in promoting technical education both here and in America.” 

Speaking about one of the major highlights of the trip, Hashim said:  “During our V.I.P tour we were allowed access to the shuttle. This area is normally restricted and not usually seen by members of the public.  We were allowed to touch the space shuttle, although we weren’t allowed to go inside.  Even some NASA employees are not allowed access for security reasons. When asked how Hashim felt following the experience, Hashim replied:  “I felt over the moon to be honest! Its been an eye opener and a fantastic experience… just to be there and see it will be a moment that I will remember for the rest of my life.” 

Hashim observed:  “The ‘Kennedy Space Center’ is bigger than Bradford City Centre, in terms of size.  To travel around we needed a bus to drop us off at various points along the tour.  We were then greeted by tour guides who explained more about NASA.  The tour guides are all retired NASA officials that return to the centre one or two day’s a week to inform visitors about facts relating to the space missions.  They also spoke to us about their own NASA experiences.”

Hashim explained that the trip to the centre by the group was due to coincide with the launch of a space shuttle.  Unfortunately due to technical problems the launch was delayed before it was due to lift off. Hashim remarked: “Of course we were disappointed, but we were still delighted to have been given the opportunity to visit.”

Hashim added:  “Following the success of the trip, Bradford College has had a number of offers from various organisations wishing to work with the College. We’ve worked very hard to achieve this.  All the people we met with were very positive and enthusiastic about working with us in the UK. The outcome of the trip has been extremely successful!”

Kennedy Space Center - Gallery