The Wearside duo who boldly went on a space mission

Mankind could be bound for new horizons with plans to send humans to Mars.

But two young Wearsiders were reaching for the stars themselves in 1989 when they prepared for a ten-day space mission in the United States.

Off to become 'astronauts'

Anna Marie Moore, 17, and 12-year-old Jonathan Laverick won a national competition where the prize was a dream trip to an astronaut training course.

Their prize included spending more than 100 hours conducting Space Shuttle experiments and receiving intensive training in robotics, space biology, celestial navigation and astrophysics.

24 hours on a 'Space Shuttle'

They would get to take part in a 24-hour simulated space flight aboard the shuttle.

Anna from Sunderland, and Jonathan from Washington, won their places in the competition sponsored by ITN.

It was quite a year for competition winners.

Boxing fans had their dreams come true when they won tickets for the Billy Hardy championship fight at Crowtree.

Face to face with a boxing champion

There were two competitions - one for Sunderland Council’s Department of Leisure Services employees with a pair of tickets as the prize, and one for Echo readers with two pairs of tickets on offer.

The lucky winners met the Lonsdale Belt holder when Billy himself presented them with their prizes.

Pictured are Bill Buddle and Echo winners Glen Hopkins (who won a Henry Cooper sweatshirt and T-shirt consolation prize), Kevin Walters and Bob Thompson, who both won a pair of tickets.

Pupils at a Wearside school came out top in a competition to find Britain’s best maths brains.

Guy was a pilot at 17

The four-girl team from Houghton Kepier Comprehensive beat off contestants from 2,000 schools in the junior section of the Norwich Union Maths Challenge.

Another winner in life was Wearside teenager Gary Morris who earned his pilot’s licence at the age of 17.

High-flying Gary went solo at Teesside Airport after completing 40 hours training.

He said at the time: “I have always been interested in flying.

“The test lasted one hour and 20 minutes and I had to deal with stalls, different types of landing and generally show I could handle the aircraft.”

Thirty of Gary’s flying hours were paid for by the Royal Air Force as they want him to train to become an air traffic controller.

But the St Aidan’s School pupil was concentrating on his A-levels and hoped to go on to university where he would study aeronautical engineering.

Tell us about your memories of 1989.

Email [email protected]