British astronaut Tim Peake is set to hold a live Q&A session with schoolchildren in Liverpool’s World Museum while on board the International Space Station (ISS).
The museum is the only venue in the UK to have been selected for the in-flight call with Peake – the European Space Agency’s (ESA) first British astronaut to travel to the ISS – with the spaceman calling the museum on 2 February for a session hosted by presenter Kevin Fong.
More than 300 schoolchildren from across the UK will be in attendance at the museum, while more than 10,000 school teachers worldwide have signed up to a live broadcast, which will go out to primary schools as part of the Blast Off event organised by teaching network TES, the UK Space Agency and the ESA.
The call will be part of a full day of activities for those visiting the museum, with hands-on experiences with Lego rover robots and the chance to ‘train like an astronaut’ with experts from sports scientists LJMU on the agenda.
“It’s phenomenally exciting to think that Tim will be calling Liverpool while orbiting the Earth on the ISS,” said Jon Marrow, senior education manager at World Museum.
“Thousands of school children and visitors have been engaging in space-related activities here over recent months as part of the Destination Space education programme. The in-flight call is an extraordinary way to bring the wonders of human spaceflight to life for children. We’re sure that it’ll be an incredibly memorable day for everybody involved.”
