World Space Week with Tim Peake

Class 5 had a fantastic special Science lesson this week that was out of this world! During our online lesson, Tim Peake explained to us exactly what it was like to live onboard the International Space Station and what it took to be an astronaut.

We had to take part in several challenges including:

1) Keeping Fit - This was particularly important for astronauts to stay super strong as the lack of gravity affected muscles and hydration so they have to exercise for two and a half hours per day.

We joined in with 30 seconds jogging!

2) We also learnt that it is really important to stay hydrated and astronauts have to regularly check their urine to make sure they are. It is hard to tell with the effects of gravity otherwise.

An astronaut catching water droplets in his mouth to drink.

How hydrated do you think our astronaut is?

3) Maths skills are really important on the ISS as many calculations are needed to survive or complete experiments.

4) We found out about how tough space walks are. If an astronaut becomes untethered, they have mini jet packs to get back to the International Space Station. For this they have to use Newton's Third Law.

We used Newton's Third Law to guide our astronaut to collect the different tools from his space walk.

Here's what some of us said we had found out:

"I learnt that they grow plants in space by using pink LED lights, wind, time and water through a tube to stop it floating away." - Lowenna

"It takes 1 hour and 30 minutes to orbit the Earth for the ISS." - Ethan

"I have learned that Tim Peake has been in space since December 2015 to June 2016." - Orlando

"I learnt that when an astronaut goes to the toilet, they have to strap themselves to the toilet, and in the toilet there is a sucking hoover device like tube that gets rid of all the waste." - Isla

Watch out for the next Tim Peake! We were very inspired!