{"id":135764,"date":"2025-11-12T13:48:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T13:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/135764\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T13:48:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T13:48:30","slug":"astronaut-inspires-captivated-audience-in-dundalk-for-science-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/135764\/","title":{"rendered":"Astronaut inspires captivated audience in Dundalk for Science Week"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Belfast-born European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut\u00a0Rosemary\u00a0Coogan\u00a0was in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dundalkdemocrat.ie\/section\/113\/news\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Louth<\/a> last Sunday 9\u00a0November to take part in a family-friendly event, sharing her story of becoming an astronaut, her day-to-day work at the ESA Astronaut Centre and her participation in future space missions. <\/p>\n<p>The event was part of Science Week 2025 which marked its 30th\u00a0anniversary this year. Dr\u00a0Coogan\u00a0shared her story of becoming an astronaut, and her work, to a captivated audience.<\/p>\n<p>Dr\u00a0Coogan\u00a0was one of 17 candidates chosen from over 22,000 applicants to join the ESA\u2019s Astronaut Class of 2022. Having completed her training, it is anticipated that she\u00a0will be sent on a space mission by 2030. <\/p>\n<p>This year, the ESA is marking its 50th\u00a0anniversary, and the upcoming ESA Ministerial Meeting at the end of November will set out Europe\u2019s future space funding and programmes for the coming years.<\/p>\n<p>Read also:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dundalkdemocrat.ie\/news\/local-news\/1940519\/go-ahead-given-for-redevelopment-of-famous-louth-pub.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Go ahead given for redevelopment of famous Louth pub<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dr Coogan also took part in Science Week event Baking in Space, an interactive, fun event which explored how astronauts prepare food and protect their health in deep space and brings audiences on an adventure where baking collides with space exploration.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Below:\u00a0Town Scientist Dr Niamh Shaw and astronaut Rosemary Coogan, with TD Erin McGreehan, Louth County Librarian Mary McHugh, Louth ABC Programme Coordinators\u00a0Gavin McGee and Sandra Farrell , David Bushman (Town Scientist team) and Naomi O\u2019Donoghue of Dundalk Credit Union with a host of local families who have participated in Town Scientist events. Image: Richie Naylor<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Science_Week_3-1762940617567.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"215\" caption=\"false\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Baking in Space was co-hosted by Town Scientist and space explorer Dr Niamh Shaw, aerospace engineer and Great British Bake Off finalist Andrew Smyth, with special guests ESA Astronaut Dr. Rosemary Coogan, Prof Lorraine Hanlon, Director of UCD\u2019s Centre for Space, ESERO Manager Aine Flood and Dr Lisa McNamee, space medicine specialist.<\/p>\n<p>Organisers of the event say they wish to give special thanks to Dundalk Credit Union and Science Week Ireland for their support.<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Belfast-born European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut\u00a0Rosemary\u00a0Coogan\u00a0was in Louth last Sunday 9\u00a0November to take part in a family-friendly event,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[9690,61,60,9689,82],"class_list":["post-135764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-dundalk","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-louth","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}