A fascinating day out at the National Space Centre for the kids, and a lot of interesting exhibits for those of us who spent far too long reading about this sort of thing 30 years ago.
Even though the facts were well known, actually seeing physical which had only been pictured in books was quite something: like finding myself face-to-face with a real SR71 Blackbird at Duxford, seeing a Blue Streak and Soyuz craft at just an arm’s length really brought home the fragility of the craft, not to mention the exceedingly friendly terms you need to be on with your fellow astronauts when cooped up in the main Soyuz pod.
The fact that the engines of the display missiles are in the eating area and ‘launch’ every 10 minutes makes even the most space-ambivalent kid join in the fun.
Any comments about helping get the best score of the day on the Apollo 11 lander simulator or parachute eggdrop are purely heresay, as it wouldn’t be sporting to geek out at my age..