NIRVANA ROGERS
Thomas, a former NASA astronaut, related his journey to joining the Astronaut Programme with NASA. Three initial rejections were not enough to deter him from fulfilling his dream. He persisted by researching all the criteria that NASA took into account when recruiting contenders into the programme.
This gave him the advantage of developing the relevant skills needed. Finally, in January 1990 he was selected by NASA and became an astronaut in July 1991. He is a proud veteran of four space flights, logging over 1 040 hours in space.
He shared his experience of what it is like to live and work in space and urged pupils to persist with subjects like maths and science and never give up on their dreams. He said the next mission to Mars will “most probably” be undertaken by the generation his King David audience belongs to and, he said, could very likely be “one of the children sitting in this hall”.
