* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

Piers John Sellers (1955 - 2016)

Blobrana · L

RE: Dr Piers Sellers

Blobrana · L

Piers John Sellers (Ph.D.) OBE (born 11 April 1955) is a British-born Anglo-American meteorologist and a NASA astronaut
Read more

Blobrana · L

Dr Piers Sellers honoured

The UK-born astronaut Piers Sellers has accepted a commemorative pin to mark his achievements in orbit.
The silver lapel badge, which takes the shape of a rocket, was awarded during a parliamentary event close to the House of Commons in Central London.
Read more

Blobrana · L

It will be one small step for a man, but a giant leap for Scottish graduates.

When British astronaut Piers Sellers blasts off in the Space Shuttle Discovery on Saturday he will be carrying a small scrap of cloth embroidered with the emblem of Edinburgh University.
It will accompany the Edinburgh science graduate on his 13-day mission to the International Space Station - only the second since the loss of Columbia in 2003 - and be sent back to Scotland on his return to Earth.
It will then be stitched carefully into the famous Geneva Bonnet, which legend says was crafted from material taken from the breeches of 16th-century Scottish reformer John Knox and which is still used in Edinburgh's graduation ceremonies.

Professor Grahame Bulfield, the university's vice-principal and head of the College of Engineering and Science, said it was a perfect combination of the past and present.

"Our students will receive their degrees capped by something more than 400 years old and with an emblem that's been into space" - Professor Grahame Bulfield.

Sellers, 51, who earned a degree in ecological science at Edinburgh in 1976, has maintained close ties with his alma mater since his first Shuttle expedition in 2002.
He then became only the third Briton to venture into space and on his first flight carried a university flag that is now displayed proudly at his old college. He has also made two lecture visits to share details of his adventures, one accompanied by his fellow astronauts from the Atlantis mission of four years ago.

Read more

Blobrana · L

A British-born astronaut is training at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, US, for a "return to flight" space shuttle mission to the International Space Station in September.
Dr Piers Sellers, who born in Crowborough, East Sussex, and went to Cranbrook School, Kent, had his debut flight more than two years ago.
Dr Sellers was only the third Briton to go into space when he completed an 11-day mission to the ISS in October 2002.

"As soon as I landed from the last flight, I kept thinking I can't wait to go back and see that and do some of that again. I am really, really looking forward to it."- Dr Piers Sellers

"He wanted to return to space and return to flight and he wanted to be successful and you want to support that. But there is a little part of you that's just scared that something is going to go wrong because we lost good friends on the last shuttle." - Mandy Sellers, his wife.

The orbiter Columbia disintegrated over Texas on re-entry in 2003, killing the seven astronauts on board.
Dr Sellers had trained with some of the astronauts who died.
For his next mission he has been designated the lead space-walker, when he will be testing some new repair techniques while the shuttle is in orbit.
As an astronaut with the US space agency, Dr Sellers flies as an American citizen. The UK does not fund human spaceflight.