Virgin Galactic astronaut visits his former school

A Virgin Galactic astronaut who has gone to space has visited his former Somerset school.

Former Clevedon School student Colin Bennett told current pupils about his career with Virgin Galactic.

He is currently a chief engineer on Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic rocket.

“It's about inspiring the next generation and to show kids and anyone who has dreams of this type of thing, that it is possible," Mr Bennett said about coming to his former school.

Mr Bennett added that it was "amazing" to come back to the Clevedon School after over 20 years.

"It's a little bit strange, it's been a long time since I've been back here," he said.

"When I was in [the student's] shoes I knew what I liked, I enjoyed science, but I really had no idea that it would lead to this," he added.

"It was just a dream, I never thought it would become reality. It's hard to believe that it worked out."

Kian, a student at the school, said he "looks up" to Mr Bennett and he will try to go to space too, now that he's heard him talk.

"For him to go to space and go to this school is very unexpected and inspires us to try and fill in his boots," the student added.

Back in 2021, Mr Bennett took Clevedon School's "Be Kind, Be Brilliant" flag to the edge of space aboard Virgin Spaceship Unity.  

To mark his achievements, Clevedon School named their science block the "Colin Bennett Science Centre".

Despite failing maths in year 12, Mr Bennett said, "you don't need to be the cleverest person in the class to have an awesome career".

"There have only been a handful of people from the UK that have been to space, so I'm honoured to be one of them and especially to be able to fly the flag for Clevedon and the South-West," he added.

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