During British Science Week Alsop students were stunned to see an appearance of a functioning rocket in the school grounds. All was to be revealed in special assemblies hosted in association with the commercial space company Starchaser.

Entrepreneur Mr Steve Bennett, hosted a Rocket Propulsion assembly for students in years 8 and 9. Mr Bennett spoke about the aims of Starchaser as part of their Educational Outreach Programme.

Starchaser began in 1992 and since then Starchaser has built and launched a number of highly successful rockets. They have developed and tested some of the UK’s largest rocket engines. Starchaser has conducted manned flight tests of their own space capsules.

On September 11th 2017, Starchaser launched an 8.3-metre (27-foot) research rocket – Skybolt 2 – from a mobile launch platform in Northumberland, England. The rocket was created as a result of a collaboration between the University of Chester and Starchaser.

The Skybolt 2 launch was another step towards creating a craft capable of carrying passengers into space. Ultimately, the intention is to build a reusable three-person rocket ship called Thunderstar. It is the Thunderstar which will ultimately be used for space tourism. Starchaser has put Britain back on the map of space-faring nations. Before the company began launching its rockets, the last British spaceflight was back in 1971 when a Black Arrow rocket carried the Prospero satellite into orbit.

Mr Mulvanney, Science Teacher, comments: 
“Alsop students were incredibly excited to see the rocket and asked many questions. We hope that the Starchaser presentation has helped to educate and inspire our students to be the next generation of engineers, scientists and space explorers.”
Mr Masher, Headteacher writes:
“Many students took a picture with the rocket and were thrilled to see a demonstration of a rocket launch. This was a fantastic opportunity for our students and we are very grateful that Starchaser chose to visit Alsop High School.”