'Dream big' - astronaut to George learners

A good maths teacher who made her fall in love with the subject and her father who told her she could be anything she wants formed part of the elements of the launchpad from which the retired Nasa astronaut, Commander Susan Kilrain, was to reach literally astronomical heights in her extraordinary life.

- Alida de Beer

Kilrain, the special guest on the 2025 Living Maths Space Tour, inspired a hall full of local high and primary school learners at the Inkcubeko Science Centre in Thembalethu on Tuesday to take a different attitude towards maths and science for exciting career paths. The tour took place from 8 September to today, from Cape Town along the Garden Route.

Kilrain is one of only three women - and the youngest person - to ever pilot a space shuttle. She worked as an aerospace engineer before joining the US Navy as a test pilot where she distinguished herself and worked for 20 years, before joining Nasa.