Mission Aspiration: Astrogazers Celebration Evening

On Friday 23 February 2024, we hosted an evening event to celebrate the success of Mission Aspiration and to announce Astrogazers new mission, Mission Pegasus.

Ms Davies gave an opening speech sharing the success of Astrogazers and mentioned Croydon High’s commitment to developing STEAM opportunities.

Family and friends of Astrogazers, Croydon High staff, professionals from universities, institutions, and industry as well as Mayor Jason Perry were in attendance too!

Professor Cathryn Mitchell, Dr Robert Watson, and Clare Cambridge from University of Bath came and it was wonderful to hear their reflections on Mission Aspiration.

On behalf of Astrogazers and Croydon High, I am excited to reveal that Croydon High will be the first school in the UK to launch a satellite into space as part of Mission Pegasus. We are very grateful for The Artemis Clinic for donating money towards Astrogazers Mission Pegasus.

I personally want to thank everyone who attended the event and especially to the girls at Astrogazers in making the event a huge success! A lot of hard work and extra hours went into preparing for the event and they all did a fantastic job.

The recorded event can be viewed on Astrogazers YouTube channel.

Read what our school community had to say

My favourite thing about the event was being able to show off what we have done/are doing in our past and future missions, as it was so exciting to showcase all of the hard work we had put into our weather balloon launch. I loved the presentation – especially when we explained all of the complex steps to a successful launch as a high school club! It was just incredible to see all of our efforts over the past months summed up into one absolutely amazing evening. Everyone was so impressed!
Arvika M
Year 9, Astrogazers

Personally, I am thrilled at how the event went and that we were able to see others experience the journey we went on. It was a beautiful evening with people from all aspects of life, coming along to listen to our story.
Isla M
Lower Sixth, Astrogazers

Entering the Croydon High School Senior Hall atmospherically lit and a buzz with positive and insightful conversation made for a truly spectacular evening. Hearing the Astrogazers speak with sincerity and passion of their story and next mission, I believe, excited and motivated us all. Something that stood out from the evening was the demonstration and discussion of the importance of essential skills – noting not just the teamwork of the students, though how the displays, coordination and central speech of the evening were led by them as well!”
Ms J Greaves
Teacher of 3D Design, Astrogazers

The Astrogazers’ Evening was a truly fantastic event. The girls had worked extremely hard towards preparing for it and were extremely grateful to be given the opportunity to share their experience and findings with parents, members of the public and universities.

Also, the reception was an excellent venue for us to reveal on the goal which we are working towards, launching a Cube Satellite as part of Mission Pegasus. We received a very positive response from parents and university professors, sensing the commitment and pride that our students have towards achieving this goal.

I look forward to working with Astrogazers in the upcoming years into ensuring our initial dream of launching a satellite soon becomes reality!
Mr B Kazi
Teacher of Mathematics, Astrogazers

At first when my daughter Aashka informed me about joining the Astrogazers Club, I thought it to be a normal club where girls will learn more about astroscience and future possibilities. Even while they were working on Mission Aspiration I was not aware of its grandeur. Only when they went to Bath University, 1st attempt failed and in no time went for a second successful weather balloon launch; I realised its beauty.

With this experience the girls not only increased their knowledge about astroscience but also learnt hard work, team work, dedication and commitment. I am extremely impressed and proud of all the girls. I am grateful to Ms Karteepan, Croydon High school and University of Bath for having faith in the girls and giving them this beautiful opportunity.

I wish them all the very best for Mission Pegasus.
ShiIpa Patel
Parent of Aashka P Assistant Flight Director at Astrogazers

Read what our guests had to say

It was an immense privilege to share the celebration evening with all of the people involved in making Mission Aspiration a success. To quote the chief executive of the UK Space Agency: “Space is a team sport”, and achieving such successes is only possible when you can draw together a really dedicated team. When you put your heart into your work, and are all pulling in the same direction, dreams really do come true. It was amazing to see such talented young scientists already actively working on their practical skills development. The UK’s future space capability is looking very bright indeed.
Professor Gemma Attrill
Dstl Space Systems Programme

I was really inspired by my visit to Croydon High School Astrogazers Club. I joined an evening celebrating their Mission Aspiration project, which involved launching two weather balloons 32,000 metres into space and successfully retrieving images of the Earth. The Astrogazers collaborated with the University of Bath for the project and their next endeavour, Mission Pegasus, will involve launching a satellite into low Earth orbit.

Physics teacher Mrs Arabi Karteepan, who recently won the Royal Astronomical Society’s Secondary and Further Education Award for the project, spoke passionately about her childhood dream of going into space and I eagerly look forward to their next mission.
Jason Perry
Executive Mayor of Croydon

I was very impressed by the enthusiasm, team spirit, inspiration and achievements of all the students and staff. It was remarkable how well they all worked together to achieve the successful balloon flight, and learned valuable life lessons along the way. It was a great demonstration that despite the occasional setback, we must never give up, and we can achieve great things. This is something we at UCL-MSSL have sometimes had to face too, with real space missions like Cluster II, where all 4 spacecraft are still working in space after over 23 years but the first attempt blew up on the first Ariane 5 in 1996, and Rosalind Franklin now planned for launch in 2028, this led on from Beagle 2 which so nearly worked on Mars in 2003.
Professor Andrew Coates
Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London

The enthusiasm and dedication of students and teachers was infectious and has clearly led to a great achievement. I was especially impressed by the way the project developed skills in mission design, engineering and data analysis which gives an excellent introduction to what space projects need.
Professor Keith Ryden
Surrey Space Centre

During the Mission Aspiration Astrogazers evening, it was incredible to learn of the remarkable journey accomplished in developing this ground-breaking, real-world project created by Mrs Karteepan. It was particularly striking to hear from the outstanding students that were truly and visibly inspired through designing and launching a high altitude balloon to touch the edge of space. I’m excited to follow along with Mission Pegasus as the Astrogazers club reach higher and farther to design a satellite payload to launch to space.
Vinita Marwaha Madill
Founder of Rocket Women, Mission Control Space Services

I was very impressed with the passion and professionalism as the Astrogazer girls showed their journey to achieve ‘Mission Aspiration’. Their push for success over any failures, was inspiring and that resilience, that going the extra mile, is exactly what we look for in Industry. Congratulations to the whole team for a fantastic evening and I wish I had a teacher like Mrs Karteepan when I was at my GDST school, many years ago!
Vanessa Viney
Innovations Manager at Airbus

Astrogazers are truly an inspirational group to all women globally. Their passion, motivation and enthusiasm towards space science and pushing the boundaries of research through their inquisitive minds makes Spirent proud to be sponsors and partners of the group. With the balloon launch proving a huge success, we can’t wait to see what they can achieve with Mission Pegasus. The sky really isn’t the limit with these girls – and I doubt the ionosphere will be either!
Chrissie Hillyer
Spirent

As attendees of Croydon High School’s Astrogazers event, we were truly impressed by the incredible achievement of the girls. Their passion for science and engineering shone brightly, led by their visionary teacher, Mrs Karteepan. The Astrogazers project not only highlights the students’ remarkable talents, but also underlines the importance of nurturing curiosity and exploration in education. Congratulations to the Astrogazers of Croydon High School for their outstanding accomplishment and for inspiring us all with their passion for science and engineering.
Rachel Wiffen and Helen Forrest
Innoval Technology

Congratulations to Mrs Karteepan and all the Astrogazers Team at Croydon High School for Girls on the remarkable achievement of launching a weather balloon to the edge of space! The pictures you took from the balloon are breathtaking. It’s truly inspiring to see Mrs Karteepan’s dedication and passion for physics ignite the curiosity and creativity of her students. As your old A-level Physics teacher, I am incredibly proud to have been a small part of your journey and am honoured by your kind words in your speech. You were a truly excellent student, and it is gratifying to see you become such an inspirational Head of Physics. I could clearly see the passion you have instilled into your students throughout the celebration evening and was impressed by their enthusiastic, articulate, and entertaining presentation. I wish you and the Astrogazers every success in your next endeavour!
Mr Lusby
Mrs Karteepan’s A Level Physics teacher

Mrs Arabi Karteepan
Head of Physics, Director of Astrogazers