Two youth from Greater Moncton are getting the chance to take part in week of space training.
Thirteen year old Sophia Banfield and 11-year-old William Banfield are among 52 young Canadians chosen to take part in the Junior Astronaut camp.
The participants were selected through a random draw from a pool of eligible candidates who had previously completed online Junior Astronauts activities in three streams – science and technology, fitness and nutrition, and teamwork and communication – which represent the different types of knowledge and skills needed by astronauts.
They’ll virtually join astronauts, engineers and scientists from the Canadian Space Agency during the last week of July.
Sophia says she has always aspired to be an astronaut, “It’s really just the adventure of it. I really love to discover things and travelling. I love doing that to discover new things. So being an astronaut, I get to travel to outer space. Wow!”
Her brother William hopes to be an Engineer for the CSA someday, “I’d like to build spaceships. Why I want to do that is I love building things.”
During the space camp, they’ll have the chance to operate a real rover during a simulated Moon mission, solve Earth problems using satellite imagery and also take part in workouts with astronauts and space fitness experts. The camp will offer them a unique chance to learn about space careers as well as the scientific, physical and leadership qualities they will need to develop if they strive to participate to a future mission to the Moon.
William is excited with this opportunity, “Getting to know new people and being able to do something that people very rarely get to do.”
Both Sophia and William agreed with the person they look up to. It is Chris Hadfield, “He’s the first Canadian astronaut to go up into space and do a spacewalk and command the CSA.”
Junior space camp runs from July 26th to July 31st.
There are four others from New Brunswick who are also attending the space camp.