Astronaut gives down-to-earth advice on maths

Aspiring Irish astronauts do not need to be mathematical geniuses, according to American astronaut Eileen Collins.

Ms Collins, in Ireland with her two children to promote science awareness and the Fás Science Challenge, said students with ambitions to join Nasa's space programme do not need to be achieving straight As.

"I had to do my maths problems over and over again before the light bulb came on. Students shouldn't be discouraged, it came hard to me, stick it out."

Ms Collins will visit St Joseph's boys NS in Terenure, Dublin, and Our Lady of Mercy NS in Booterstown, Dublin, as well as receiving an honorary degree from University College Dublin during her trip.

She said she wanted to be an astronaut since "fourth grade" after reading an article in a magazine on the Gemini programme.

She was not discouraged by the fact that there were no women astronauts, and studied mathematics, economics and science at university.

Having worked with the US air force as an instructor pilot, she was chosen for the space programme by Nasa in 1990.

She became the first woman pilot of a space shuttle in 1995, and had two more missions before becoming the first woman commander of the space shuttle Discovery.

Ms Collins will also visit University College Cork and Cork County Hall, where she will be presented with her ancestral history.

Her Irish Collins roots go back four generations and are based in Cork. However she also has Irish ancestry on her mother's side, O'Hara, and her paternal grandmother was a Reidy.

She is interested in finding out about her past but will be focusing most of her energy on encouraging young people to enter the science field.

"What I do is encourage young people to choose careers in maths, science and engineering and to choose those subjects in school because our world is becoming more technical," she said.

"We need creative, smart young people in these fields because there is so much left to invent and discover."

She would also recommend that students consider studying geology because of future plans by Nasa to go back to the moon. The organisation plans to stop flying the shuttle by 2010, and begin flight testing on the crew exploration vehicle (CEV) in 2012.

"Russia is planning on sending robotics missions to the moon and China has ambitions to send people on more ambitious missions," she said. "It is about time Ireland had its first astronaut."

Some 18 science and engineering graduates chosen from colleges around the country will be travelling to Cape Canaveral in Florida to take part in a six-week programme of space science and technology as part of the Fás Science Challenge this summer.

The graduate programme will be officially launched by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin this morning.