Get Space! V

‘A fun opportunity to learn about space. I found the day amazing. I love science even more now. Best science day ever. Wish I could do it every day. It was one of the best trips in my life’. (exit survey)

This annual Get Space! event is organised by Spacelink Learning Foundation . This event is for primary & secondary school children and last year (2018) it was attended by 8 schools from the Godalming region, ranging from Yr4-Yr7. Four guest speakers presented keynote space talks throughout the day and these were interspersed with hands-on space themed activities. The guest speakers (in order of appearance) were:

• Dr Helen Mason – Solar scientist, University of Cambridge
• Dr Helen Sharman – First UK astronaut, Imperial College London
• Dr Suzie Imber – Winner of BBC 2 “Astronauts” & Associate Professor in Space Physics, Univrsity of Leicester
• Dr Sheila Kanani – Royal Astronomical Society

The SunSpaceArt team (Helen Schell, artist and ESERO-UK Space Ambassador and Dr Helen Mason) ran two STEAM workshops on ‘the Sun and 3D Space Satellite Cards’.

Organisations providing activities included:

• Winchester Science Centre – Mobile Planetarium & Dr Ben Littlefield – Destination Space
• National Physical Laboratory – Andrew Hanson – Water Rockets
• Dr Helen Mason & artist Helen Schell – SunSpaceArt workshop
• ARISS/AMSAT– Ciaran Morgan – Communication activity
• STEMNET – Guildford Astronomy Society – Solar Scopes
• SpaceFund – Jo Fox – Robots
• ROG – Royal Observatory Greenwich Outreach – Dhara Patel & Gregory Brown presented ‘The Great Space Adventure’  Theatre Show
• Surrey Satellite Technology Limited, SSTL – Scott Fisher – Satellites and build you own Spectroscope
• Spacelink – Divya & Vince – space activity.

During the SunSpaceArt workshops, 30 x Y4 children were offered two sessions using folding, collage and cut-out techniques to create space satellite cards. They were encouraged to use the keynote speakers’ talks as inspiration and had 40 minutes to create an artwork. Many were particularly inspired by astronaut Helen Sharman and later she signed their creations. The team were able to use the art room and were provided with excellent materials by Spacelink. This art session added to the range of hands-on activities and provided an exciting day for the children. The teachers were very pleased with the childrens’ work.

We (Helen Schell and Helen Mason) found it a great honour to work with the Spacelink team and thank them for this opportunity. It was a particular pleasure to meet the inspirational Helen Sharman again, to hear about her time on the Mir space station and to get to know her a little better. We are very proud of the ‘three Helens’ photo!