Friday 3 October 14:00 - 15:00

 

Space travel and science fiction

 

The first part of this three part Open Plenary deals with the imagination inspired by space and the aspirations to travel beyond Earth. It featured the science fiction author Stephen Baxter, who talked about how the power of space inspires an interest in science fiction.

 

Opportunities in public spaceflight - commercial, medical and personal aspects

 

George Whitesides, Executive Director of the National Space Society (USA) and a senior advisor to Virgin Galactic, spoke about future public spaceflight opportunities.

 

Melchor Antunano, the director of the FAA's Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (USA), talked about the IAA study on medical requirements for commercial orbital flights.

 

Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides - planning the first ever space honeymoon on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo - talked about her perspective and motivations. She is Director, US Operation for the Space Generation Advisory Council and co-founder & Executive Director of Yuri's Night, USA

 

Life as an astronaut

 

The final part featured questions and answers to a panel of astronauts on what it's really like to prepare for and then go into space, moderated by Richard Brook.

 

Astronauts included were Michael Lopez-Alegria (USA), Sergei Krikalev (Russia), Chiaki Mukai (Japan) and Jean-Francois Clervoy (Europe).

 

The video containing all three presentations is available at the bottom of this page.

 

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Schools competition video:

 

 

Educating tomorrow's workforce:

 

 

Friday's Open Plenary: