A student who grew up on Merseyside is appealing to the people of Liverpool to help make her dreams come true … by sending her into space.
Amy Tyndall, 26, from Halewood, has spent most of her adult life dreaming of heading to space, and an exciting new competition might just help the PhD student make it a reality.
The first class honours student – who originally studied Astrophysics at the University of Liverpool before travelling to Santiago, Chile, where she is studying towards a Doctorate in astronomy – has recently entered a competition to win a place on a commercial flight into space worth $95,000.
Amy found out about the competition, run by Unilever brand Lynx, from a friend on Facebook and decided to enter.
All she had to do was complete the sentence: “I want to go to space because…” and Amy answered honestly: “I want to go to space because I’ve been studying towards a professional career in Astronomy for the past eight years – it’s time to take the childhood dream to the next level!”
The competition has also received an endorsement from a man who knows all about the final frontier, Buzz Aldrin.
A veteran of the Apollo 11 1969 Moon landing, Aldrin has been recruited to head the campaign and he said: “I’m thrilled that Lynx is giving the young people of today such an extraordinary opportunity to experience some of what I’ve encountered in space.”
The statements made by each of the entrants are posted on the website alongside a photograph of each candidate.
As this is a public vote, the winners will be decided based on the number of online votes they have received.
There are 22 places available globally and Amy is confident that the people of her native Liverpool can help her climb the leaderboard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMINSD7MmT4
When asked about her progress so far, Amy told JMU Journalism: “I currently sit in around 400th place in the competition, but I have to be in the top 200 to make it through to the next round.
“The closing date for this is in April and it only takes a minute to vote, I’d like to thank everybody for their consideration – and ask them to please vote!
“I really think that if I get to the next stage my passion will show and I can do it.”
Amy, who spent 2011 working as a support Astronomer for the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) on the island of La Palma, Canary Isles, is currently based at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile.
She will remain there until June before returning to Manchester University to write her thesis.
For more information on the competition, visit www.lynxapollo.com.
To support Amy and give her your vote, go to www.lynxapollo.com/en_GB/30401/amy-tyndall