British particle physicist and popular BBC TV presenter Professor Brian Cox is set to visit the Isle of Man along with five NASA astronauts who flew on the final Space Shuttle Discovery mission in March 2011. Visiting as part of Manx National Day on 5th July, Professor Cox and NASA astronauts Nicole Stott, Michael Barratt, Eric Boe, Stephen Bowen and Alvin Drew will be guests of honour at the Tynwald Banquet as well as making a special presentation to local schoolchildren the following day. The science presentation at the Royal Hall in the Villa Marina on 6th July will give the Island’s secondary school pupils a chance to take part in a unique event where they can meet some of today’s space age stars and find out more about science and space travel. The event gets under way at 9.30am with Professor Cox, who will hold a question and answer session after his talk. During the interval there will be a news conference with Professor Cox for the local media. This takes place in the Joe Loss Bar. Then, from 11am, members of the NASA team will take to the stage with their own presentation Wi-Manx will be streaming this event live online as a video and audio feed, allowing those not able to attend in person to view this unique presentation. Professor Cox is a professor at the University of Manchester and has worked on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN (The European Organisation for Nuclear Research). He was awarded an OBE in the Queen's 2010 Birthday Honours for services to science. The Isle of Man has a number of companies involved in the space sector, and it is a growing part of the local economy. The streaming of this event by Wi-Manx will raise the Island’s profile around the world. Matty Cunningham of Wi-Manx commented: ‘I have a great personal interest in space and amateur radio – I have spoken to astronauts on the International Space Station three times now – so I am excited about this visit and I think it’s great for the Island. Our live streaming will also give schools and universities across the UK a chance to benefit from this unique and interesting science presentation.’ To view the presentation live online on the 6th July, visit wimanx.com and click on the link on the home page. -ENDS-