Hampshire school receives astronaut visit as part of national competition

Hampshire school receives astronaut visit as part of national competition
A school in Hampshire opened its doors yesterday for an exciting visit by NASA astronaut, James F.Reilly. Ropley Primary School near Alresford, was the winner of a national competition by Attraction Tickets Direct, in which parents entered on behalf of their children. Eight year old Molly Sansom can proudly say that she won this once in a lifetime school event on behalf of her fellow pupils.

The competition was offered by Attraction Tickets Direct and the school was chosen at random out of almost 1000 entries from across the country. During the visit, James F. Reilly made a presentation to the whole school about life in space and invited Molly to participate in an experiment before presenting her with her very own NASA jump suit.

Mrs Clare Molyneaux, headteacher at Ropley Primary said: “We were both amazed and delighted to find out that our school had won this competition and are grateful to Molly and her mum for entering this competition for us. The visit was so useful for our children and everyone has been excited for weeks waiting for this to happen. To think that a man who has completed five spacewalks has also set foot in our school is just incredible and certainly not something I ever thought I’d be able to say!”

James F. Reilly has spent more than 850 hours in space, has completed five spacewalks, three Space Shuttle missions and multiple visits to the International Space Station. During these missions, he has collectively travelled more than 14 million miles and orbited the earth more than 550 times.

Reilly is visiting the UK to promote the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex – the world’s most authentic space attraction. The competition was organised and hosted by Attraction Tickets Direct – the UK’s number one seller of tickets to Kennedy Space Center and all the leading theme parks in Florida.

CEO of Attraction Tickets Direct, Oliver Brendon, said: “This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for us to do something really special in the UK, to celebrate our partnership with Kennedy Space Center and to promote the fantastic family friendly attractions that we offer.”

For more information see www.attractiontickets.com/en

For media information or images contact Kate Bates, head of PR, on 0203 195 6840 or [email protected]

Notes to Editors:
Attraction Tickets direct holds the relationship with the customer taking responsibility for the products sold, conducting an in-depth vetting of suppliers to ensure quality ground handlers are used. As a result Attraction Tickets Direct products are insured and the company provides reassurance with customer service support seven days a week.

About Attraction Tickets Direct:
Attraction Tickets Direct is one of the world’s largest attraction ticket brokers serving more than 350,000 customers each year from four source markets - the UK, Ireland, Germany and Brazil. The company was founded in 2002 and by 2006 became the first company ever to sell '1 million visits' to Walt Disney World, Florida in a single year – something that has been achieved every year since. The multi award-winning company aims to Add Happiness® to holidays by making it easier, cheaper and faster to buy tickets to the world's leading attractions. www.attractiontickets.com/en