Two rising stars in Accutron space with Alyssa Carson and Zara Rutherford.

The Accutron Show

To celebrate Space Exploration Day, here is a special episode of The Accutron Show that features a conversation between two young and brilliant women that are building careers in aviation and space travel, Accutron ambassador Zara Rutherford and Alyssa Carson. Zara Rutherford s a Belgian-British aviator who, at age 19, became the youngest female pilot to fly solo around the world and the first person to complete a circumnavigation in a microlight aircraft after a five-month journey. Alyssa Carson is an American student with the goal of training to become an astronaut and to be selected for future human spaceflight to Mars. She attended U.S. Space Camp in 2008 and has also attended other space camps in Canada and Turkey. In 2013, NASA invited Alyssa to be on the MER 10 panel in Washington DC to discuss future missions to Mars live on NASA TV. Join the conversation between these two young women and dream big and fly high.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

2:16 Alyssa: Since I was a kid, I was obsessed with the idea of going to space. No one in my family had a science or space background. So when I was 7, I went to space camp in Huntsville, Alabama - that was my version of Disneyworld. Everything I wanted to know as a kid was right there. Then watching a show on Nickelodeon, that's the first time I heard the word "Mars".

20:44 Zara: My trip around the world lasted 5 months. That's also because I was stuck in Alaska for a month, in the middle of winter, waiting for the weather to improve. The temperature dropped down to -30 degrees celsius; I was really worried since the plane had not been tested under those conditions.

30:31 Alyssa: I love meeting young kids, I love opening their eyes to the possibility of becoming an astronaut. Kids are used to hearing about becoming doctors, lawyers, etc. and not so much about joining a space program.