A day at Leicester Space Centre

The day after a fun-filled trip to Ely and its stunning cathedral on Saturday, on Sunday our students hit the road again and this time they allowed me to come along for the ride. Our destination was the National Space Centre in Leicester. The space centre did not disappoint, providing both the history of the Space Race (something as a historian I thoroughly enjoyed) and the opportunity for visitors to live their dreams by training as an astronaut. By participating in a range of activities from laser shooting (where Lewis gained the high score) to controlling the temperature, power outlet and water supply on your spaceship, your strengths as an astronaut were revealed and ultimately you received your assignment, a result which unfortunately for me was not what I was hoping for (I still can’t believe I wasn’t named as a future Commander). However, some of our students perhaps did find themselves a future career in weather forecasting, relishing being in front of the camera! After all this, we took a brief break for lunch and refuelled ourselves for the afternoon ahead. The final part of our trip around the Space Centre was a showing of ‘We Are Aliens’, narrated by Rupert Grint, in the Sir Patrick Moore Planetarium where we were told all about the universe’s potential for alien life and about humanities attempt to find it. With our minds sufficiently blown, we left the NSC and headed for the Highcross Shopping Centre for a bit of retail therapy. Boasting over 100 shops the Highcross is one on the best shopping centres in the UK and our students took full advantage . With the shopping done, we headed back to Cambridge, with many of the group myself included enjoying a well-earned nap after a very enjoyable day! Carl