Adventure #12 Astronauts

 Being a teacher has its advantages, such as the opportunity to spend an afternoon in the company of 7 international astronauts. Invited by Unesco to celebrate 60 years of human space travel, I was one of 5 teachers who accompanied a group of students to an 'Afternoon with Astronauts'.  Most of the afternoon was dedicated to questions from the students, the first question of course being 'How do you go to the toilet in space?'! The astronauts (all men) were incredibly nice, ridiculously positive and aspirational (especially the American, truly a different race from us reserved and cynical Brits) and great with the kids. Having signed up for a bit of a jolly, I found myself being very engaged by their tales (who knew that velcro was such a revolutionary invention or that your internal organ float in space!) and impressed by their interaction with the students, signing autographs and posing for photos, even though they were suppposed to be following a strict programme! I remain a bit too British and cynical to completely buy into their 'reach for the stars' and 'never give up on your dreams' message (I really don't think any amount of not giving up will land me a role in the Grease stage show) but it certainly felt like something a bit special.