OUT OF THIS WORLD!
Friday 30th April 2010
Sussex astronaut and former Cranbrook School pupil Piers Sellers is scheduled to take part in another NASA space mission on May 14th. This time he is taking with him into space an original watercolour painting of the school painted by Buxted artist Brenda Barratt.
Piers Sellers is Britain's most famous spaceman having undertaken two NASA space missions and spent over 13 days in space and space-walked six times. On this mission Piers is assigned to the crew of STS-132 which is targeted for launch on May 14th. This 11 day flight will deliver a Russian-built Mini Research Module to the International Space Station.
Cranbrook School Headteacher, Mrs Angela Daly, said "I was delighted when Piers suggested he took the painting with him into space and on his last trip he took a copy of the School's Elizabethan charter". The painting will then be returned to Cranbrook School with the official NASA verification that it has travelled into space when Piers visits the School on 16th and 17th January next year.
Brenda Barratt comes from an artistic family and works from her studios in Buxted. "Most of my work involves architecture - I've painted well over five hundred house portraits over the years. I never thought a painting I had created in my Buxted studio would ever be blasted into space," said a delighted Brenda Barratt.
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