On the 21st of May around eighty year nine students went to the National Space Centre in Leicester. The visit took place so that the students could learn more about space as they were studying this subject.
The journey by coach took about an hour but when the students finally arrived they were taught more about the NSC. The centre itself does not receive any government grants. and was built through a National Lottery Grant. It also makes some money from the S.I.M ride there. It caters for many school visits and also during the holidays a huge number of public ones too.
The students were free to roam around the galleries throughout the course of the day. These included many games and activities such as “The Big bang Theory” game. In this game students had to build up the speed of about ten stars each they then selected fire and see which group of stars prevailed. Another game was “Moon Walking” in which students took it in turn to ride a skateboard on a rail. This proved the difficulties of zero gravity.
Although, the three major events of the day were the rocket tower, S.I.M and the space theatre. The rocket tower was a full sized rocket and pupils had to climb 144 stairs to reach the top. But this was not for any acraphobics as you had to look down ten floors to see the full rocket. The next event was the space theatre. Many students from different schools gathered together in a cinema type theatre. They then faced a huge dome which projected our solar system. It then gave information on all the planets including the dwarf planet Pluto. But the highlight for many peoples day was the S.I.M which was pretty much a motion simulator that took you on a journey to Europa, a moon of Jupiter. “It was brilliant” said Bethanie Goodson, 9R. “One of the best events ever” said a fellow student Sarah Hale, 9S. This proved to be a unique experience as the Simulator is the only one in the country.
Overall, the day was a success. Not only for all the knowledge gained but for the incredible amount of enjoyment all the students had. It was a trip not to be missed!!
The centre is a crucial as it is one of the only centres that focuses on space but with a fun twist to make it more enjoyable. But the centre receives no government grant. How can a centre this essential obtain no funding from the government even though it poses an educational outing to many people?
