Spaceman From Mars Lands At The Ship on Holy Island

It's not every day that a spaceman from Mars decides to spend his leisure time at The Ship Inn on Holy Island, but on Tuesday 16 October that's is exactly what happened. To unfold a little more detail about this very interesting story, our guest, Sheila Delamere is the key to this news item.

(Alan pictured above with one of his stunning Mars photographs)

Sheila had visited Holy Island way back 30 years ago and decided to revisit Holy Island along with her husband Alan as part of their UK holiday tour. Alan and Sheila formerly Liverpudlians moved to Boulder Colorado USA where Alan took up a job that many small boys dream of, that is, being a Space Scientist working for Ball Aerospace in the state of Colorado. Alan's claim to fame is that he is the scientist that developed the HIRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera that is currently on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This satellite launched in March 2006 circum navigates anywhere between 250 Kms and 300 Kms above the earth sending spectacular images of the planet Mars.

Alan, quite an assuming man, casually answered when asked by Andrew Hnat, landlord, what do you do for a living "Oh, I am just a space scientist involved with a mission on Mars" Slightly taken aback with this rather unusual reply Alan said "I have some photographs if you would like to see them?". The answer as you can imagine, was a resounding "Yes!"

This was then followed by what only can be described as "an evening to remember" with Alan showing some of the most spectacular 3D images ever witnessed. Locals and guests alike sat around Alan's laptop with loaned 3D glasses "oohing and ahhing" at some of the most incredible photos ever seen. As Andrew said, "we all felt like we were descending down the side of some of the most spectacular craters, trying to reach and touch the incredible rock formations right in front of our eyes!" Harem, one of our colourful locals, who always has something to say, was on this occasion, just speechless, as in fact we all were. For those astronomers out there, Alan's CV over the years is pretty impressive working on missions involving Sky Lab, Comet Halley and the Deep Impact Mission.

For further information visit the web link Alan is involved with on:

http://hirisetest.lpl.arizona.edu/index.php