Tim Peake

The Farnborough International Air Show is a huge and thrilling annual event, with aerospace exhibitors from around the world demonstrating their wares and charming potential customers.  This year the UK Space Agency asked the National Space Academy to get involved, by running a day for careers guidance professionals in the Space Zone.

 An audience of 37 careers advisers, and teachers who have taken on provision of careers advice, heard from graduate trainees at Astrium, Logica, and Magna Parva, as well as from UK Space Agency Head of Education, Jeremy Curtis, and the UK’s only ESA Astronaut Tim Peake. 

 

After talks and lunch the attendees where then able to explore the air show and watch the afternoon’s air displays.

"Holding the event amongst the Space Zone exhibitors allowed everyone to see just how vibrant the UK space sector really is these days" Dr Kierann Shah, Regional Project Manager

 

The aim of the day was to promote the UK Space Sector as a career option for students interested in STEM subjects and/or space.  Allowing careers guidance professionals, who each work with hundreds of students, to ask questions about the potential for working in the space sector, and equipping them with the information they need to talk about the sector to young people, was seen as a great way to encourage more young people into the industry.

 

In feedback for the event attendees were most excited about hearing from Tim Peake about all the people it takes to help him do his job, and the Astrium talk by Katharine Bennell was recommended for her in depth discussion of the company’s graduate schemes and apprenticeships.  The Institute of Physic’s Careers and Students Officer Dr Taj Bhutta, who compered the event, said that it was useful to speak to the careers advisers as well as people from the space industry.