Presented by
Dr Andy Thomas, NASA Astronaut
The October Lecture is a premium event presented by RiAus for students in Years 8-10. This year the October Lecture was presented by Dr Andy Thomas.
Andy is Adelaide born and raised and is currently a member of the NASA Astronaut Corps at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. He has flown into space on board the space shuttle on four separate occasions including a 20 week stay on board the Russian Space Station, Mir.
During the lecture Andy gave a first-hand account of what it is like to be an astronaut in space. He talked about his early experiences training to become an astronaut and shared anecdotes of his time in zero-gravity. He talked about his vision for the future, particularly his hopes for further exploration of the moon and Mars. The audience at RiAus as well as schools viewing online were given the opportunity to have Andy Thomas answer their questions.
Andy said that South Australia is beautiful from space — blue ocean, vibrant green land and red desert to the north of the state. He fondly recalled that on his first space trip, residents of Adelaide left their lights on for him so that he could spot his hometown from high above.
The response from one attendee at the October Lecture was this:
“We are never too old to learn and I am always trying to absorb new information like RiAus provides in such a fantastic way.” – Cathy Carter
More ways to get involved with the science of space:
For students inspired by the wonders of space, RiAus is excited to support your passion with YouTube Space Lab. We are asking you to imagine…”Your experiment, 250 miles above the Earth, for the whole world to see. What will you do?”
The event was also streamed live to schools via Centra
View images from the event
Related Content
Andy Thomas visited ABC 891 while he was in Adelaide, and was interviewed by Ian Henschke. You can listen to the podcast.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Have you always wanted to be an astronaut? (6 October 2011) By Rose Wodecki
YouTube Space Lab means sky is no limit for students (14 October 2011) RiAus media release
This work is licenced under a Creative Commons 
hey is there any way uni students can attend his lecture?
Hi Mohit,
this lecture is aimed at high school students. For uni students and other Andy’s fans we prepared a special live streaming session in one of our rooms. Andy will visit this room after his talk. This will be the only option to view the lecture, besides live streaming via Centra.
We will release tickets in upcoming two weeks.
Let me know if you need any more information.
Petra from RiAus