(31/10/05) The four Step Into Space winners from Highfields Science Specialist School are back  home,  having spent 10 amazing days exploring the NASA facilities in Florida and Houston, Texas, with their science teacher Mr. Mehmi. They also had the unnerving pleasure of a close encounter with Hurricane Wilma! Read blog entries and see photos from the trip on the CLC Blog now.

Congratulations to the students from everyone at the City Learning Centre.

Hello everyone,

We are back in Wolverhampton now. It feels a bit weird being back, it seems to be getting dark early and I keep thinking people are driving on the wrong side of the road. The whole trip has been so amazing that it is hard to pick a favourite day or experinace. I thought the astronaut training experinace in the Kennedy Space Centre was one of the best. I loved going on all the simulators particulary the G-force one where you get spun around very fast and then get lifted up so it feels like you are falling very fast. I also found the Mission Control Centre and the Neutral Buoyancy Lab in Houston Space Centre incredible. On the last night of the trip we went to Astronaut Scott Kelly’s house for a little party. It was surreal to be amoungt astronauts and rocket scientists. One of the astronauts there was Michael who is the American Record holder for longest time living in space, he had spent over 380 days living and working in space. I had a bit of a problem with my camera and it deleted all my pictures so I haven’t got any to show you.

Before going on this trip I already had a big interest in space and astromony but now it has grown immensely. I now know that this is a field that I wish to go into as a career. I would like to thank ISSET for giving me the chance to experience this once in a life time opportunity and also all the people on the trip for making it so great. Thank you.

Samantha 

A large collection of Lawrence’s photographs from the Step Into Space visit to the USA is now online in a photo gallery on this page:

• http://www.wolverhamptonclc.co.uk/space/lawrenceUSApics

Here are a few selected pictures:

Plaque to commemorate the Apollo 1 fire that killed Ed White, Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee in 1967.

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Hello everyone,

Our flight departed at 7 p.m. Houston time, it took 9 hours and we arrived at Gatwick at 9 a.m. this morning. I got very little sleep on the plane as it was so uncomfortable. I am feeling exhausted!

Well done to Sam, Hitesh, Archana and Lawrence, and all of the other pupils for working so hard and making my visit so enjoyable.

Mr Mehmi

The students and Mr. Mehmi are flying back to the UK, and are due to arrive back at about 9 a.m. tomorrow morning. Congratulations to them on completing their adventure! I hope that the reality lived up to the dream, and that getting out of bed for school on Monday morning is not too hard . . .

If any of the the students have other photographs that they’d like to share on the blog, I would be delighted to receive and publish them. Just complete the contact form on the contact page with your email address and I will reply with details of how to send pictures.

Thank you to all of the parents, school friends, teachers and passers-by who have followed the blog over the last 10 days. The sense of community that developed was wonderful to behold. Check back soon for more pictures from Step into Space 2005.

The City Learning Centre also part-funds one week teacher visits to Kennedy Space Center for Wolverhampton teachers. The next visit is planned for Easter 2006:

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