St Cross College, Oxford

Dr Scott Parazynski and the MasterOn Thursday 29th January, the College welcomed a distinguished guest; Dr Scott Parazynski. As one of NASA's most experienced spacewalkers and a mission specialist with them for the last 16 years, he is currently in Oxford as the Visiting Professor of Space Medicine and a Member of Common Room at St Cross College.

Dr Parazynski presented a lecture entitled "A View from the top", recounting his experiences during his time with NASA, including anecdotes from his 5 shuttle missions.

The highlight of an extremely interesting evening was the video footage taken throughout one of his missions to the International Space Station orbiting Earth. Not only were we treated to an astronaut-eye-view of the launch and re-entry, a spacewalk, working outside the shuttle and performing repairs on the Space Station itself, but we were also shown footage of the day to day life of the men and women working and living in space.

The lecture was well received by a full audience of St Cross members and colleagues from the University; all enthusiastic to gain a better understanding of what is to be an astronaut and the challenges, demands and rewards it brings.

A truly fascinating evening!