Mission Control

From the outside, mission control for the Russian Space Programme looks just like any other large city building in Moscow that you would walk past without a second glance! Inside is a different story!

We visited the MIR control room where the final three orbits of this incredible space station are frozen on the main world map as a real historical document. We watched two videos, one filmed on the MIR space station about the day in the life of a cosmonaut and another about life on the International Space Station.

The entrance wall to this control room is a 'hall of fame' commemorating all of the cosmonauts and astronauts who have flown missions from Russia - starting with Yuri Gagarin in 1961 - and soon to include the latests Expedition 8 crew of the International Space Station - who are making final preparations for launch into space in the morning!

A short walk down the corridor led us to the quietly busy main mission control room for the ISS (International Space Station). As we arrived the ISS was just 17 minutes away from the first Russian communication tracking station - and a selected few from each group were invided to stay behind to talk to the Expedition 7 crew - who are anticipating meeting their friends on Monday when the Soyuz rocket docks with them to bring them home.

Unfortunately, Mr Putin was using the satellite link for official state business - so the live transmission to the ISS didn't happen - but two cosmonauts stepped in to answer the questions. We won't mention how to go to the toilet in space now though!

Here's the Mission Control room for MIR space station - See Laura and Vera in the big screen at the top left - yep we've sent them into space!

An American film crew filmed the American teams and our Scouts and Guides to go on American news.

We returned to our 'base' to set up our 'studio' to update the web site and prepare to interview some of the officials and participants.

Here's our mission control room (well it's Mark's bedroom really). Note the high-tech computer wall, International Space Station model and Space Shuttle!