Captain’s log, 22 February, 2018. The Samsung X Science Museum Space Descent Bus toured The Mount today. The friendly visitors invited us on board their enigmatic bus, parked mysteriously outside the Science block.
The Visit into Space
Years 9 and 10 were up first. Even though the girls had already seen most of the attraction, having attended the VIP launch of the Tim Peake Soyuz spacecraft exhibition at York’s National Railway Museum last month, the girls were nevertheless had an exciting visit, even though they knew a Geography test was waiting for them afterwards.
Year 11, who mostly hadn’t yet visited the Railway Museum exhibition, were blown away by their visit. They split into two groups to tackle each half of the bus for a visit that took almost an entire hour. The girls chatted and laughed their way through the bus. After Choc Lunch, College girls, members of staff and the Year 8 girls who’ve already had their 13th birthday (the bus is only for over-13s) had their visits. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
Space Descent Bus
The girls described their bus visit. “The lower floor of the bus is where you do your training module and learn about the International Space Station. The staff were very friendly and we learned lots, including fun facts about the International Space Station, rocket fuel, space itself, Tim Peake and the space programme. The top floor of the bus has the virtual reality (VR), which was everyone’s favourite activity. Some girls were worried that the VR might make them feel whoozy but they were fine with it. It’s quite amazing that the headset, which looks very technical, is actually a phone inserted onto a mount which you then put on your head. We were all very inspired by the Space Descent Bus, especially the girls who are planning to become engineers.”
