Just before the Christmas holiday, Julia Attias was crowned the winner of the Launch Zone. Julia will go on to take part in the final live chat with Tim Peake, and the winners from the Training, Orbit, and Touchdown Zones, in the summer.

Here’s what Julia had to say to the students in the Launch Zone after they voted her the winner:

Wow – I am chuffed that I won your vote!

Can I firstly say what an amazing opportunity it was to be involved in I’m An Astronaut Get Me Out of Here. What an incredible way to help get all you guys learning more about space and how you can get involved one day! I’d especially like to thank all of the team who make the program possible, if it wasn’t for you, it would never have run so smoothly. I had so much fun talking to you all of you!

I’d also like to say a huge thank you to all of the students that got involved and asked some fantastic questions. You even challenged me with a few – but as I said to quite a few of you, I love being challenged, so that’s a win-win situation for me right there! It would not have been half as successful if you wouldn’t have immersed yourself into it, and you all absolutely did, so thank you for that – you made my job much easier!

I faced some super-tough competition with the other 4 Launch Zone members – Andrew, Delma, Alex and Simon. It was great to “meet” you – albeit virtually – and chat with you. It wasn’t just the students that learnt from you; I learnt something from each and every one of you too! So, thank you for helping me be part of a great team and I hope that we can cross paths for real in the future within our line of work.

Lastly, and most importantly, thank you to each and every one of you for voting for me – I can’t tell you how much it means to me!! As I am sure you gathered (I hope), I am incredibly passionate about trying to inspire all of you to get involved in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects. I am especially passionate about trying to inspire females to get into science. I wanted to show all of you that females can succeed in science too, and you have all just helped me even more so to show the world that it is possible, and for that I truly thank you.

In the famous words of Albert Einstein – “I have no special talents; I am only passionately curious”. I encourage you all to forever be curious, find something you feel passionate about, and be determined to succeed!

I wish you all a bright 2016!

Julia