• Question: What was your lifetime goal to achieve?

    Asked by JeetS on 2 Nov 2020.
    • Photo: John Chinner

      John Chinner answered on 2 Nov 2020:

      I didn’t have a lifetime goal, except to be happy and financially comfortable. Despite always loving space I have never wanted to be an astronaut, I would rather be building the machines that go to space.

    • Photo: Marina Ruiz Sanchez-Oro

      Marina Ruiz Sanchez-Oro answered on 2 Nov 2020:

      I know this sounds very cheesy, I just want to do something that makes me happy and that helps people. I think begin happy with what you do, regardless of what everyone else says is really important. After I finished my physics degree and decided to do something totally different, it was a big step, but I knew that I would be hapier working in a area where you can contribute to studies that directly affect people’s lives.

    • Photo: Calum McInnes

      Calum McInnes answered on 2 Nov 2020:

      My lifetime goal is to see my research being applied into a real space vehicle. It’s something I’ve been working towards for a while and I would be really proud if the opporunity arose.

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 2 Nov 2020:

      My lifetime goal is to be part of the flight dynamics team for a major interplanetary mission (help navigate the spacecraft to where it has to go etc.) I think that would be exhilarating, but still working on it…

    • Photo: Roy HAWORTH

      Roy HAWORTH answered on 2 Nov 2020:

      I don’t think I set out with such a long term vision, initially I knew from around age 10/11 that I really liked mechanical and electrical things, this developed more on the electrical/electronic side as I reached 14/15 and I knew going into my GCSE’s that I wanted to be an Engineer and I had already identified the Apprenticeship opportunities in the military as a possibility as there were few opportunities for such a career in the North West at that time (1980). When I was 7 I saw the Moon Landings live on TV and that made me really dream about getting involved in rockets, but that opportunity only came 12 years into my career when I left the Royal Navy and joined Airbus.
      I suppose my main goal is always to be the best I can be at whatever role or activity I am involved in and searching for better ways of doing things to achieve more.

    • Photo: Tris Warren

      Tris Warren answered on 2 Nov 2020:

      When I was younger I always wanted to go on Robot Wars. When it came back on television a few years ago I did start building something – got about as far as taking apart some old electric wheelchairs for their motors. However, I didn’t finish the project (ran out of time – that often happens).

    • Photo: Harriet Gamble

      Harriet Gamble answered on 3 Nov 2020:

      Since I was about 10 years old I have wanted to know more about space and decided I wanted to be an astronaut! I started reading lots and lots of books about exploring space and I found out we can learn loads about space using robots and satellites so I thought while I was waiting to apply to be an astronaut I would learn how to build rockets or robots or satellites. I have actually found that I love building and designing things, especially for space and I love my job designing satellites. Still, being an astronaut is a lifetime goal for me and when the European Space Agency are next looking for new astronauts I will definitely be applying!

    • Photo: Steve Williams

      Steve Williams answered on 3 Nov 2020:

      I have never really had a life time goal I think because you can never plan for what opportunities might come your way. In that sense I have been lucky as good opportunities have come along. I think the best plan is to follow what interests you and to continually learn to put yourself in the best position possible for when opportunities do arise and they probably will.

    • Photo: John Davies

      John Davies answered on 9 Nov 2020:

      I was about 15 when the first astronauts landed on the Moon. So all I ever really wanted to be was an astronaut. However, life was not kind to me in that regard. Although I did all the right things (got university degrees, learned to fly, worked in a plane factory, worked on satellites, worked at telescopes etc) that door never really opened. When I was the right age the UK did not have an astronaut programme and by the time they did have an official astronaut programme (like the job Tim Peake got) I was too old to apply. Still, I had a lot of fun doing all those other things. So I don’t regret trying. If you jump for the stars you will probably get over a few fences.

    • Photo: Abbie Hutty

      Abbie Hutty answered on 23 Nov 2020:

      When I was doing my GCSEs I didn’t know what I wanted to do Career-wise at all, then I saw on the news a guy being interviewed about a mission to Mars, and he said that British Engineers were designing it. And I thought that if engineering meant designing space missions that sounded pretty cool! So I looked into it, and decided to become an engineer.

      I never thought it was a realistic ambition that I would actually get to work on a mission to Mars, but thought maybe I could work in robotics, or space missions, or something a bit like that, and it would still be cool. But gradually whenever I got to pick between one option and another, I always picked the one that took me closer to working in the space industry, and then when I was in my early 20s, I was working for Airbus’ Space Division, and a job opened up on ExoMars, the first European Rover mission to Mars. So even though I wasn’t sure if I was well qualified enough for it, I applied, as I felt that I had to at least TRY, and I got the job! So I guess that was me achiving my lifetime goal, career-wise, at 25 years old… then I needed to find a new dream! ;o)

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