40 Faces of Brendoncare – Peter Barker
Our 40 Faces of Brendoncare celebrates our 40th anniversary by introducing you to some of the amazing people who shape who we are and what we do. Today, we would like you to meet one of our residents, Peter Barker who has an incredible story to tell.
A resident at Brendoncare Meadway in St Cross, Winchester, Peter joined us in December 2021 following the death of his wife and, after spending some years living independently, came to us for some respite care before moving here permanently.
Peter had a very long and distinguished career working as an engineer on a number of high profile projects. One of them was the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE).
Launched in 1978, the IUE was a satellite observatory, which instead of producing photographs of deep space, it spread ultraviolet radiation in a spectrum. Through its telescope, astronomers could collect ultra-violet spectroscopic images of comets and magnetic fields surrounding stars. The IUE was shut down in 1996 with all the data collected from it now preserved in the archives of the participating agencies which included NASA.
Peter was formally recognised for his contribution and received an OBE from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in recognition for his services to British space science.
In this video, Peter shows off his citation and recalls that very special day – not without incident, when he went to receive his OBE. Thank you Peter for sharing your memories with us.
Related Articles
