Charity Love Tech Isle of Man welcomed NASA astronaut Nicole Stott to the island last weekend as part of a special series of events, designed to inspire young people and showcase career opportunities within the global space industry.

The events were designed to bring together students, educators and the wider community through a programme focused on creativity, STEM exploration and real-world insights from the space sector.

This initiative reflected the charity’s mission to inspire the next generation, whilst simultaneously highlighting the island as a place where ambition and innovation can thrive.

One of the key events, ‘Reach for the Stars’, took place on Friday at Ballakermeen Studio Theatre.

A careers-focused panel event it was aimed at students aged 14 and over and featured Nicole, her husband and Manx space entrepreneur Chris Stott plus astronaut ‘wrangler’ Christina Korp.

Students had the chance to meet the panellists and discuss how they all got into their respective careers.

Nicole said: ‘I grew up loving flying. I wanted to know how things fly.

‘That evolved into, if you want to know how aeroplanes fly, why would you not want to know how rocket ships fly? And I ended up working for NASA as an engineer.

‘I always thought being an astronaut was cool, but I really thought the space programme itself and the work that was being done was really important and wanted to be a part of that.

‘When I really discovered how much the work that we do in space is all about improving life on Earth, it made it even more attractive to me.’

Discussing what message Nicole wants to deliver to the young people of the island she said that she believes that the NASA space programme demonstrates that the things people think are impossible aren't at all.

She said: ‘We want kids to believe that anything is possible. I mean, look at me. I never would have dreamed I'd be sitting here wearing the blue jacket with you, right?

‘Stay curious, be passionate about something. It's amazing the opportunities that can open up for you.’

Christina began her career as a professional singer, it wasn’t until she answered an advertisement in the Hollywood Reporter that she began to work for Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon.

She said: ‘There's a lot of things about space that I really admire - the thing I want to say to people in the Isle of Man is I came from a small town in South Dakota. It may as well have been in another country.

‘I can relate to coming from a place where you would never expect someone like me to work with astronauts all over the world. It's possible for anyone.’

Nicole added the island is already a hub for space-related innovation.

She compared the island to a ‘spaceship’, a place where cutting-edge ideas and technologies can come together to demonstrate the best of what space innovation can offer.