THE winner of BBC2’s Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes? programme inspired Sheldon School pupils with her talk on her quest to become a fully-fledged astronaut.

Dressed in her royal blue flight suit, Suzie Imber told 80 GCSE and A-level pupils about her research project in the NASA and scaling unchartered mountains in the Andes on February 6.

To demonstrate the impact those challenges had on her life and the competition, Dr Imber challenged groups of pupils to complete a series of workshops following the talk, which included building the tallest tower without speaking.

Teacher Fiona Aicken, who organised the event, said: “The event was thoroughly enjoyable and inspirational. Suzie’s core message was for the students to seize opportunities and that, with hard work, you can achieve your goals.

“We hope that this will encourage even more of our students into a science future and maybe one day, they too, will be inspiring others as

Suzie has done.”