The hopes for the evening of March 4, 2020 were not dashed when the Rouleaux Foundation, a scientific non-profit organization in Nigeria represented by Damilare Faniran was able to meet renowned NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Astronaut Dr. Michael Foale who enlivened some of his experience while in service. He is the first Briton to perform a space work and also held the record of the most time spent in space by a United States citizen of 374days, 11 hours, 19 minutes. The meeting took place at the Great Hall, Main Building of Aston University, Birmingham, United Kingdom. The event was organized by the Pint of Science Birmingham in collaboration with the International Space School Education Trust (ISSET) represented by Mr. Bernard Whittingham, as part of the renowned British-American Astrophysicist’s United Kingdom Tour.

Dr. Foale gave an opening account with the story of how his father was a pilot in the Royal Airforce which had led to his early interests in space exploration. Another highlight of his talk was when he subsequently visited the return exhibition of Astronaut John Glenn who was the first American to orbit the earth. The magnificence of the capsule that brought Glenn was a sight that imprinted the desire to become a pilot but fate eventually landed him in NASA as an Astronaut. As he tried out his initial plan, he could not join the Royal Airforce due to his near perfect vision. He subsequently proceeded to Queens College at Cambridge University where he studied for his Doctorate degree in Astrophysics.

His days at Cambridge were maximized by taking amateur flying lessons and scuba diving ventures in Greece. All these had prepared him for the opportunity at NASA which he tried 5 times after he had learnt of the recruitment exercise during his PhD at Cambridge. The event was not without a play of the recorded   sessions of his time in space where he performed zero-gravity experiments and acrobatics to the pleasure of his terrestrial audience. At the height of his story was the description of his encounter when a space shuttle docked wrongly and collided with the International Space Station (ISS) during his round-up mission. The electric supply to the ISS was compromised and the crew was in a hopeless situation but used their instincts to revert the anomaly while in orbit.

As Rouleaux Foundation was set up with the aim to promote science for sustainable development in Africa. One of the focus areas of the organization is in space science education so it is envisioned to support a Nigerian Astronaut in orbit and the moon through promotion and advocacy. The Nigerian Space program was established through NASDRA (National Space Research and Development Agency) in 1998 under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology which has supervised the launching of her first satellite, NigeriaSat-1 in 2003. Four more satellites have been launched after then. The agency had a vision of putting a Nigerian Astronaut in orbit between 2015-2020 and the moon by 2030 but these have been met the challenges of interethnic and interfaith obstacles, relationship with other African nations and relationship with space faring nations like the United States, China and Russia. As this presents numerous multilayered benefits to the Government of Nigeria, Rouleaux Foundation is keen to support, collaborate and partner with the agency to help increase the awareness of space education and astronomy to the public in a bid to achieve these lofty goals.

KEYWORDS

Rouleaux Foundation, Pint of Science, ISSET, NASA, Africa, Nigeria, Space Science, Astronaut, Michael Foale, Damilare Faniran,