Finding out about living in space

Next Shuttle Launch! 4 April 2002 (Details)

Pupils at St Agnes School, Headingley have been doing two projects about space this month. Currently they are finishing the polishing of their Project Starshine mirrors which will be launched on the Space Shuttle in January 2003.

At the beginning of the month they followed the progress of the Space Shuttle, Columbia on its servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

As well as watching the launch of the shuttle and subsequent space walks on the Internet, they had their own simulated blast off, and space walk - complete with backup from mission control!

As two of our intrepid astronauts lay down on a mat in the classroom ready for our simulated launch they were in for a big surprise when the countdown reached zero. Suddenly the room started shaking and as the shuttle rolled up-side-down for its journey into orbit. As the shuttle accelerated up to 3G (three times the normal force of gravity), four volunteers lay on top of our poor astronauts so they could experience at first hand how the real astronauts were feeling on their way into orbit! (Don't try this at home!)

See for yourself what a launch is like.

Afterwards we watched the real thing on the internet. Wow!

See our space links page.

5...4...3...2...1... Lift off !

The next Space Shuttle mission is set for 4 April 2002. You can watch it live on the Internet. NASA TV broadcasts complete coverage of every mission at http://spacefilght.nasa.gov