SEVEN NASA astronauts will bring all the excitement of space to Bradford for a two-day visit next week with children from the city's schools getting a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet them.
The seven, who have just returned from a space shuttle mission to the International Space Station, will be touching down at 10am on Thursday next week, in Centenary Square, Bradford.
After a civic reception the space shuttle crew will visit Odsal
Stadium, home of the Bradford Bulls, to give a talk to primary school children about their remarkable mission, which NASA described as the 'nearest to perfect' ever achieved.
The children will get the chance to ask the astronauts questions and have their photograph taken with the crew.
Later , the crew will continue their voyage around Bradford with a trip to Bradford College's new Trinity Green campus.
The event has been organised by Bradford-based Space Connections and Bradford College, in conjunction with YES net – a network of providers of space activity within education across the Yorkshire region – and supported by Yorkshire Forward.
Next Friday, students from some of the district's secondary schools will also get the chance to meet the crew.
Titus Salt School in Baildon and Thornton Grammar School will play host to the astronauts, while Keighley students will have a chance to meet them at East Riddlesden Hall.
Hashim Hashim, head of innovations at Bradford College, said: "Visits from people who work in different industries are really important for us as a college. They're an excellent way of informing our students and staff about the real careers that are available out there.
The crew of the STS 124 mission are Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Ken Ham, and Mission Specialists Karen Nyberg, Ron Garan, Mike Fossum, Akihiko Hoshide and Garrett Reisman.
Bradford is the only city in England they will visit.
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