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When Gabrielle West was younger, she had a beloved book about the solar system. She would read it often, flipping through the pages with delight.
Little did she know it would instil her with a love of space. The Hongkonger is now 11 years old. She said her goal is to become an astronaut doctor.
“I can go to space and help sick or injured astronauts get better,” said the Primary Six pupil at St Paul’s Convent School.
“I can also do some research about how the body can adapt better in space ... and hopefully find some cures or medications to help astronauts stay in space longer.”
In July, Gabrielle took the first step towards her dream. She trained as a junior astronaut at two Nasa sites in the United States through a programme called The YF Life Jr Space Camp Programme.
A taste of space
The YF Life Jr Space Camp Programme was founded in 1999 and is sponsored by YF Life Insurance International. Eight children from Hong Kong and Macau are selected for the programme every year.
Gabrielle was among the lucky few chosen from more than 1,000 applicants this year. They had the chance to visit the US Space & Rocket Centre in the US state of Alabama and the Kennedy Space Centre in the state of Florida.
Students tried machines that simulate what it is like to walk on the moon or float in zero gravity. They also attended lectures and built and launched model rockets.
Gabrielle said her favourite part of the experience was the multi-axis trainer. This machine shows what it feels like to be weightless in space.
“I was a bit nervous at first because it was spinning really fast. When [other people] got off, their faces were all red ... [but] it actually wasn’t too bad,” she said.
The students even met American astronaut William Surles McArthur. Gabrielle said she was “really excited to see him” and asked questions about how the human body reacts in space.
Last year, a policewoman was chosen as the first Hongkonger to take part in China’s space programme. The news inspired Gabrielle, giving her a goal to focus on.
Endless possibilities
Eleven-year-old Annabel Su was also a junior astronaut this year. Her favourite parts of the programme included seeing the Saturn V rocket and touching a moon rock.
Annabel wants to be one of the first people to go to Mars. She said she felt inspired by Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to go to space.
Annabel said she admired how Tereshkova identified a programming error that would have sent the ship too far into space and calmly corrected it. She believed that Tereshkova possessed the qualities of a successful astronaut, such as “perseverance ... and knowing how to cope with your [nerves]”.
“I think there should be more women represented [in space] ... because right now there’s still a lot more men than women,” said Annabel. She is in Grade Six at Chinese International School.
She believes that Hong Kong students should learn more about space exploration: “The universe is infinite. We [can] always find out about more things,” she said.
