As British ESA astronaut Tim Peake prepares for his upcoming spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS), Tim encourages you to get in on the action by taking part in a variety of educational activities being run by the UK Space Agency and the European Space Agency (ESA)
Rocket Seeds
The UK Space Agency has partnered with The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Campaign for School Gardening on an innovative educational project Rocket Science, will give around half a million children the chance to learn how investment in human space exploration contributes to our knowledge of life on Earth, using the invaluable expertise of the European Space Agency (ESA) and RHS Science team.
Tim Peake’s Mission Overview
Tim Peake’s Training
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Mr G says “What did you learn?” Leave your comments below.
Remember the school rules
- Be Kind
- Do not mention anyone’s names including your own.
I think the three radiations will prevent the seed from growing, such as heat helps the seeds may also be a problem. I think they will grow a bit and then they will die or may not grow at all. This is my prediction.
I have learnt several fascinating things about space travel, survival and return to earth.
1. You need a powerful rocket made up of different stages like the Soyuz. These stages separate at different times in the journey after the fuel has been used up in that compartment. The rocket gets smaller and lighter as it approaches the space station.
2. A rocket needs thrust to take it into space. This is got from the special fuel it burns in its engines. A few minutes from lift off the rocket fuel comes in contact with heat and oxygen. It bursts into flame providing the lift required to overcome gravity and take it to space.
3. The rocket needs to be launched in the direction of rotation of the earth. This give the rocket more energy to help it go further into space.
4. The capsule is the only part of the rocket that docks onto the International Space Station (ISS).
5. The space station has furniture very different from what we have in our homes. It does not have normal beds, instead there are sleeping bags. These bags are hooked to the walls so that the astronauts do not drift off when they sleep. The toilets on the space station don’t use water to flush rather the use suction. They are no proper tables or chairs.
6. The food the astronauts eat is in packets and they eat directly from the packets. They do not use plates. Though their food is in small portions it contains the right amount of nutrients.
7. A space suit is needed to survive in space. It performs several important functions like regulating pressure. It controls the pressure so that it is the same as that on earth. This prevents their body fluids from boiling at a reduced temperature like body temperature.
8. Oxygen is very important for the survival of astronauts in space as there is none there. The space station has oxygen generators that make oxygen from water. They also recycle the air the astronauts’ breath out, taking out the carbon dioxide and pumping back the oxygen.
9. Recycling things makes it possible for humans to stay in space for long periods of time. The astronauts’ urine is also recycled by a special process to get drinking water after the harmful substances have been removed.
10. In the space station Tim Peake and the other astronauts will perform many important experiments. Some to find out how our bodies react to weightlessness. Others to test out new materials to see how they will perform in space. They will perform experiments to see how plants grow in space and if they will be suitable to eat.
11. The astronauts have medical equipment on board the station to treat them if they fall ill or get injured. It is not as good as what paramedics have in an ambulance because they don’t experience the illnesses and injuries that are common on earth.
13. The Soyuz capsule brings the astronauts back to earth after their mission. It is docked to the space station during their period of their stay. It is protected by a heat shield made of special material that cools rapidly. This is necessary because the capsule heats up upon re-entry into the earths’ atmosphere. On re-entry the capsule compresses the air in its path this causes the air to heat up and get very hot. This will cause the capsule to catch fire and burn. The heat shield prevents this from happening.
14. It has a specially designed parachute to slow it down when coming through the earths’ atmosphere.
This is what I have learnt from The Royal Institution’s Christmas lectures presented by Dr Kevin Fong.
In the christmas lectures ‘Lift off’, ‘Life in Orbit’ and ‘The Next Frontier’, the space doctor Kevin Fong with the help of Tim Peake, the first British astronaut on the International Space Station, investigates the difficulties and challenges on his 6 months expedition into space. I have learnt a great deal from Kevin Fong’s informative and fascinating series of mind boggling experiments.
Lecture 1
*The Space Station travels at 17500 mph.
*In one experiment Kevin used biscuits for fuel, liquid oxygen for gas and a blowtorch to supply heat.
*The air in space is very thin so you need to wear a space suit in order to breathe.
*In space if you throw a bag it would float since there is 0G.
*Boiling point of oxygen is -183 degrees celcius and boiling point of liquid Nitrogen is -196 degrees celcius.
*To change oxygen gas to liquid oxygen you need to get it below the boiling point so you need to add liquid Nitrogen.
*In order for ignition you need to launch the rocket with the rotation of the Earth from West to East.
* Average pressure of oxygen in your arteries is between 10-12.
* On the peak of Mount Everest Dan Martin’s average pressure of oxygen was 2 and a half which is the lowest recorded oxygen level in a human.
* Spacesuit weighs around 10 kilos. There is a valve to regulate the pressure inside.
*Sound can be very destructive, in an experiment the producer of the show is able to break a glass with her high pitched voice.
*Newton Third Law of motion-every action, there is an equal reaction.
*Triangle of Fire( oxygen hydrogen and fuel) is crucial for travelling in space.
*Fuel is made of long chains of carbon, atoms and hydrogen all joint together.
I learnt that you have to train very hard and have courage to go into space. It is very difficult to go into space as something might go wrong. You also have not much time to sort out the problem so you have to be quick thinking.
It was really quite interesting, that the scientists figured that if you are underneath water, it is similar to being weightless in space, as in space there isn’t any gravity in space so you weigh.
The astronauts space suit looked very heavy and when they took it apart the detail and the precision of it all looked so complex .