MajorTim.space

With today (1st March 2018) being World Book Day, we thought that we would highlight some inspirational reads, written by STEM geniuses!

 1.  Endurance: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery – By Scott Kelly

A stunning, personal memoir from the NASA astronaut and modern-day hero who spent a record-breaking year aboard the International Space Station – a book that will inspire generations to come.

We had a fantastic time on the 5.02.18 with 1st Abergele Scouts, building boats & having a competition to test their stability!

Each boat had to hold a hard boiled egg and keep it dry!

They each got to test their boats once to make improvements before the competition!
Everyone enjoyed learning about the centre of mass, buoyancy, streamline boats and water resistance!

The winner of the competition was……  Iori – with his boat ‘Floater’!
He was extremely delighted with his prize (below)!

The runners-up of the competition were…   Luke – with his boat ‘Floaty’, and Rhys – with his boat ‘HMS Sellotape’ (also known as ‘Lucky’)!

The winner and the runners-up receiving their prizes (below)!

Fantastic and innovative boat designs by the Scouts, which were very impressive!
A great educational and fun evening had by all!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We had a fantastic time on the 18.01.18 with 1st Abergele Cubs, running our Mars Mission egg drop!

We held a competition to test which teams expensive technical equipment (an egg)would survive the long drop from the probe to the surface of Mars!

Everyone enjoyed the session and came up with amazing innovative ideas!

We challenged the Cubs to design and make a protective lander for the equipment so that it lands safely on Mars.
They worked in teams to design and build a Mars lander from a range of materials.
The landers were then put to the test to see which survive the impact.

They had to minimize the force of the impact in order to give their eggs the best chance of survival!

They learnt about acceleration, velocity,  gravity and much more!

The winning team was………..

Team Minions – Zac, Osian & Seren!

The winners were absolutely thrilled with their prizes!

The team who came 2nd in the competition was……

Team Bob – Phoenix & Romeo

They too were very pleased with their prizes!

Congratulations to the winners!

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

MajorTim.space exhibited at take pART last weekend (13th & 14th January 2018)!

The event was held at Venue Cymru, Llandudno.

We were running our drop-in ‘build your own balloon car’ workshops, friction activities and a quiz with prizes!

We were extremely busy with hundreds of visitors over the two days!

During the event we ran the fastest balloon car competition!

We timed every balloon car on our ramp to the finish line and recorded all the times!

After sorting through the many lists of names we found our winner……..

The Lucky Winner was…..  Oliver Barrett with his car ‘Ralph’!

Oliver’s car had an amazing time of 1.02 seconds!

We have since met up with Oliver (and his mum) to award him his grand prize! (below)

 Congratulations Oliver – we hope you enjoy your prize!

Also, well done to all the other participants, all of the cars were exceedingly fast!

Thank you to everybody who came and took part in our workshops!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Many thanks to Clearly Drinks Ltd and McDonald’s who kindly donated some of the materials!

On this day 2 years ago (15th January 2016) – Tim Peake became the first British ESA astronaut to perform a spacewalk!

Major Peake stepped outside the International Space Station’s Quest airlock, along with NASA astronaut Tim Kopra.

They scheduled to spend six-and-a-half hours on the exterior of the outpost.

The astronauts completed the primary goal of the spacewalk: replacing a faulty component on the station’s exterior.

Tim Kopra exited the Quest airlock first, followed by his British colleague a few minutes later.  Kopra then proceeded to the worksite with a toolbox, where he anchored a foot restraint as an additional safety measure.  The US astronaut then gave a “Go” signal for Major Peake to follow the Nasa astronaut, carrying the replacement electrical box.

They were told by Mission Control to ‘hang out’ for 10 mins until the Sun went down. The only way to protect them from the high voltage from the solar panels was to wait until it was dark – Tim Peake quoted “Most memorable 10 minutes of my life”.

NASA ended the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) after Tim Kopra reported a “small amount” of water in his helmet, but the flight director took the precaution of ending the event early.

The astronauts were outside the space station for four hours 43 minutes.

It’s our first anniversary, and we will be celebrating by running drop-in ‘build your own balloon car’ workshops, friction activities and a quiz where there is a chance to win a prize – including MajorTim.space anniversary badges!

take pART is funded by the Arts Council of Wales, Conwy County Borough Council and Llandudno Town Council.

The event is being held at Venue Cymru on the 13th & 14th January 2018.

The fastest car recorded over the weekend will win a surprise prize!

So come and find us in the Marquee, to have some fun and learn about astronomy, Newton’s Third Law of Motion and friction in the process!

Britain’s first astronaut and Professor of Space Physics Helen Sharman is recognised in New Year’s honours 2018!

The New Year’s Honours list recognises the achievements of a wide range of extraordinary people across the country.

Helen Sharman is appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for services to science and technology educational outreach

On 18th May 1991, Helen Sharman became Britain’s first astronaut in space and the first woman to visit the Mir Space Station.

After responding to a radio advertisement asking for applicants to be the first British astronaut, Helen Sharman was selected for the mission live on ITV, on 25th of November 1989, ahead of nearly 13,000  other applicants.
Before launch, Sharman spent 18 months in intensive flight training in Star City.

Helen gained a Bachelor of Science from the University of Sheffield and her PhD from Birkbeck University of London.

Sharman was appointed an OBE in 1993, and in the same year became an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
She has also received several honorary degrees from universities throughout the UK, and in 2015 was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the British Science Association.

Congratulations Helen – you are an inspiration to all!

2017 was a fantastic year for MajorTim.space!

Here are the most inspiring people we have met this year, and just a few of the many workshops that we have run at festivals/events and with The Scouting Association groups!

We hope everyone has a Galactic New Year!

Clear Skies!

MajorTim.space

Today (15.12.2017) is two years since Tim Peake launched to the International Space Station (ISS)!

He described the journey back as “the best ride I’ve been on ever”, adding: “The smells of Earth are just so strong”.

On the 15th December 2015, Tim took the most exhilarating ride of his life, lifting off, on a Russian Soyuz rocket with Russian commander Yuri Malenchenko and US astronaut Tim Kopra!

Professor Brian Cox and Dara O Briain presented live coverage of British astronaut Tim Peake’s arrival at the International Space Station, at the Science Museum in London.  They were joined by astronauts including former ISS commander Chris Hadfield and Helen Sharman, and Dallas Campbell reported live from the launch in Kazakhstan!

Since his Principia Mission Tim has done many tours/talks, attended events, becoming a Scout ambassador, writing books and much more!

Children have been inspired by his Principia Mission – in a way that they may not have been interested in space especially from a scientific or mathematical point of view, but have been drawn in through a number of different ways, such as competitions, challenges and experiments!

Thank you to Tim for being such an inspiration to all!

Retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly gave an inspirational talk in Oxford, where he was joined by presenter Dallas Campbell!
The fascinating evening took place on the 24th November 2017!

Scott talked about his new book Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery – a personal account of the wonders and trials of space travel, the challenges of long-term space flight and the potential for mankind to set foot on Mars!

Scott left the audience spellbound, with his candid account of his life leading up to becoming an astronaut!

Thank you to Scott Kelly and Dallas Campbell for a captivating evening!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Click here for more photos of the talk
by Amelia’s Photography!