This morning we took off to the National Space Centre on the Andrews Fireball XL5 (OK, a double-decker) for our whole school trip.  There was a lot of excitement on the journey down and we were greeted with a visual feast as we walked through the door.  First up, we had a couple of workshops focussing on Rocket Science and Food in Space that provided a wealth of information to our budding astronauts.

After a quick lunch, we were set free on the various exhibits and activities on offer and split up into groups to explore the landscape.  With areas dedicated to all aspects of space there was lots to see and learn about.  A stop off in the cinema dome gave us an insight into the fascination about the universe held by mankind with a jaw-dropping animation that filled the huge ceiling above.  A few of us were dizzy, but we all left amazed and a more knowledgeable nonetheless.

It was then off to explore again, and as you can see from the photo show below, we got to see a considerable amount and enjoyed every minute of it.

Then, with about an hour to go of our visit, came an event straight out of Apollo 13 – however, it was more “Leicester, we have a problem!” than Houston, as there was a large power-cut that seemed to affect the whole local area.  They had to close down and evacuate the building, a great shame.  So we boarded the capsule for the return voyage (OK, the double-decker again!) and with a considerable amount of singing came splashing back to Earth.

Ready for a ton of photos?

5……4……3……2……1……GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Photos by all the staff

Whatever you do, don’t press this…..

There’s always one!

Now look what you’ve done!

What does this one do?

Houston – someone’s let all the air out – HELP!

Rocket Designer

Rocket Designer

Rocket Designer

Rocket Designer

Rocket Designers

Launching the models into space

Planning an astronaut’s diet

Planning an astronaut’s diet

Flash freezing children – cool

Flash freezing children – cool

Flash freezing children – cool

Flash freezing children – cool

Flash freezing children – cool

Flash freezing children – cool

Flash freezing children – cool

You’ll have to blow harder than that

Tempting

Watch it grow

How many children can you fit in a capsule?

Poor Clanger

Mercury was a bit worried

Hanging out on Saturn’s rings

Beans in Space

Feeling Meteorites

Crawling between modules

Some of them slid

Arty metal things

I want one of these

Just like Star Trek

Building Space

Strange happy creature

Strange giggly creature

Strange smiley creature

Watch out – HOT SURFACE

The 1st Reception on the Moon

Come on, there’s less gravity!

Happiest spaceman ever

Do you trust this pilot?

Very impressive suits

Junior rocket builders

Helen Sharman’s actual suit

An ISS module

This is easy!

To answer the question – yes

Press them all

Gravity wells

Trainee astronauts

Communicating from Mars

Jumping on the Moon

This is how we got here

This is a, er, thing

Successful launch

A very large spacecraft!

We really wanted to go to Floor 2

Another huge rocket

In the command module

Mission Control

Attempting to launch

Houston – we have a problem

Spaced Man

Unconcerned Man

Concerned Man

Confident Man

Fly me to the Moon…

Mrs Parkin’s Moon Landing Theory

Big Swirly Ball