Astronaut visits Western Australia and supports anzSKA bid 

In mid-September, Australian-born astronaut Dr Andy Thomas visited Perth to deliver a series of events hosted by The University of Western Australia and Curtin University. During this visit, Andy threw his support behind the Australia – New Zealand SKA bid, saying that the project will have a huge long term impact.

“It's going to be a source of profound inspiration to young people to see the great things happening out there, the great discoveries being made, and be part of it," said Dr Thomas.

Dr Thomas’s visit was brought about by the Fogarty Foundation and other organisations, including The International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) and Scitech.  During his visit, Dr Thomas spoke to 700 students from more than 50 schools, in which he described what it is like to lift off from Earth at thousands of kilometres per hour, live in orbit and even take a space walk.

Dr Thomas also spoke to a public audience of around 300, where a combination of elements came together to create a unique event. It included not only the opportunity to hear from and meet an Australian astronaut, but also a live linkup to the International Space Station. Astronaut Shannon Walker took questions from several students in the audience as she orbited the earth hundreds of kilometres above at more than 27,000 km/h.

Born and raised in Adelaide, Dr Thomas earned his degree and then doctorate of Engineering at the University of South Australia.  Dr Thomas was selected by NASA in 1992 and, following a year’s training, was appointed a member of the astronaut corps and qualified for assignment as a mission specialist on Space Shuttle flight crews. He flew his first flight in space on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in May 1996 and completed his fourth space flight on STS-114 logging over 177 days in space.  He is currently working for the Exploration Branch of the Astronaut Office.