At the end of the last half-term we took a very excited Curly Headed Boy (nearly 8) and Little Dimples (3.5) to the National Space Centre in Leicester for the first time for the launch of ‘Back to the moon for good’.
Honestly I had absolutely no idea what on earth the launch was about! But I’d wanted to go to the space centre for years, so when they contacted us to go and have a look we jumped at the chance.
Some people suggested that possibly the kids were still a little too young for it all.
Did they like it?
When we first got there the excitement did make it a bit manic; eventually some tough words slowed CHB down and at last we could enjoy it.
The secret is: take your time.
If you rush around you will miss bits, as there are loads of fascinating things to see and do for all the ages. But if running around too fast means that it just becomes a crazy stress situation.
Our favourite was ‘The Rocket Tower’ – the 1960’s room was really funny, and they got to pretend to be in a rocket that was taking off.
I loved ‘The Planets’ – I feel that my knowledge of them is really shaky and I’d love to know more.
Little Dimples was too short to go in the simulator, which CHB loved; but I didn’t mind as I saw a few people coming out very very queasy from there!
We didn’t get to any of the presentations or activities, there was already so much to do.
I think however young they are, they really gained some understanding of the history of space travel so far for mankind, in a really fun way.
The only problem was that I had obviously mis-sold it and LD cried at the end because we hadn’t actually gone into space!
Back to the moon for good
At the end of the day we went into the ‘Planetarium’ for the ‘Back to the moon for good’ presentation.
Wow!
It’s all about the ‘Google Luna XPRIZE’ for $30million for the first PRIVATE team to send something to the moon, that is then capable of travelling 500 meters and sending back pictures.
The ramifications are HUGE because by doing this on a budget with no government involvement, the imagination is amazing as to how people are getting round the problems. They are sure to create things that we will then be able to use elsewhere as well.
I left really inspired and hope that we get lots more media coverage of all the different teams and their machines.
It’s REALLY exciting what they are trying to do.
* Disclosure: we were given a family ticket to go to the space centre, but honestly we would have gone eventually anyway. I’m really chuffed that we got to see the back to the moon for good show though.