A wee dander with..........Dr Norah Patten - Irish Astronaut in Waiting

We all dreamt as children of flying to the Moon or being an Astronaut at some stage didn't we? For some it was a fleeting moment of interest, for others a lifelong itch to be scratched - for Dr Norah Casey it was the latter. From the moment she visited NASA's complex in Cleveland, Ohio as a child she was hooked and her life's trajectory moved towards that star. This was no facile, childish whim. This was the beginning of a quest to reach that celestial body which has transfixed and beguiled men and women for thousands of years. Norah is making it happen. 'The First Irish person in Space' has quite the ring to it and Norah is fully deserving of the title should she get there. This isn't something that she stumbled into. It has taken focus, determination, hard work, commitment and intelligence for Norah to get to where she is. A native of Ballina, Co Mayo she took a degree in Aeronautical Engineering in Limerick, followed by the International Space University, highlighting the git and drive needed to stay on the target of the greater prize. To date we Irish can only claim a far dated claim to Neil Armstrong through his Fermanagh background. How good would it be to see the first Irish person leave our atmosphere in search of adventure?? Our modern day Shackleton. The Ultimate goal is to become an Astronaut and Norah is making her way there bit by bit. The journey has included a book she wrote in 2019 'Shooting for the Stars: My Journey to Become Ireland’s First Astronaut' and enrolment onto Project PoSUMM (Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere), at NASA where just 12 people from around the world were selected. The talent, passion and acumen Norah showed to get onto such a prestigious platform must have been tremendous.
Commercial Space flights and the races between Billionaires Richard Branson, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos offer opportunity for Space travel and the Space race to become part of our vocabulary and an attainable, if ridiculously expensive, goal. The route Norah has taken to be one of the active members rather than a paying passenger is hugely uplifting. Norah has never taken her eye off the target and is now honing in on being one of the select few who will have left the confines of our atmosphere. An avid believer in the promotion of STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), Dr Patten believes everyone, male and female, can benefit from the knowledge gained in pursuing such subjects and encouragement should be given as they open up so many opportunities. We say today's modern women should have no ceilings, but she truly and smashes through them. I would say the sky is the limit but in Norah's case that isn't even true. You can find out more about Norah's interesting takes at www.norahpatten.com The Moon looks closer every day and following Norah's journey gives us all hope that our dreams can be made reality. Nothing is impossible - Norah has shown us all that fact.
Images credit Irish Independant & RTE

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