Triumph in space to inspire students | Hawkes Bay News | Local News in Hawkes Bay

One of the highlights of the late Sir Ian Axford's stellar career in astrophysics is set to become an annual highlight of a Napier Boy's High School senior student's academic life.

A former old boy and dux of the school, Sir Ian went on to forge an internationally acclaimed career, which included 25 years as director of the Max Planck Institute in Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany.

It was there that he became heavily involved in the Giotto space-probe mission - a mission to get as close as possible to Halley's Comet, which passed close by earth in 1986, and collect photographs and data.

Planning for the comet's 1985-86 appearance in our cosmic neighbourhood involved more than 10,000 scientists and engineers in a co-operative global mission. The four main space exploration agencies, Nasa, ESA (Europe), ISAS (Japan) and Intercosmos (Russia) had individual strategies to explore the comet, but it was apparent the mission would be better achieved through co-operation.

Mission Giotto, which Sir Ian was involved with, turned out to be a brilliant success, despite several years of planning trials and tribulations.

His wife, Joy, said it was one of the highlights of her late husband's career - as Giotto got closest to the comet, and the remarkable images from the camera equipment designed by the Max Planck Institute were beamed around the world.

She said she had long thought about asking for a model of Giotto, and broached it in June when she attended a memorial symposium in Germany in honour of Sir Ian.

The institute's directors agreed, as few were held in higher regard there than Sir Ian.

Last Monday a well-padded and packed parcel arrived. It was an intricately detailed metal scale model of Giotto, and Mrs Axford was delighted. So too was Napier Boy's High School principal Ross Brown when she decided to gift it to the school as the annual award for academic achievement in Year 13 physics.

She said: "I thought - how would Ian like to be remembered?"

The answer was through something tangible from his successful life, and something which could inspire young men to pursue their own astrophysical goals.