The kids experience a “super crazy” space trip with André Kuipers

Students from 7 different groups from Weert and Nederweert took a space flight on Spacebuzz on Thursday and Friday. This fifteen-meter long rocket vehicle was located in the Sparktech laboratory in Weert. With virtual reality glasses, kids imagine themselves as a real astronaut. They floated above the ground for twelve minutes.

Beautiful and fragile

“Spacebuzz is an educational program for Group 7 kids,” says Mandy van Heyningen. She is a “significant specialist” at Spacebuzz. “They start the class with a lesson pack that’s been put together to prepare for the flight they’re going to take… We’re going to show them the overview effect because the astronauts say it’s the most beautiful thing they’ve ever seen.”

a trip

Cosmonaut Andre Kuipers gave the children a tour of space. It showed how beautiful, yet at the same time vulnerable our Earth was. Participants were given virtual reality glasses, after which they started the journey. “It all felt so real,” says Lennox Osry. Grade 7 student from IKC De Bongerd from Nederweert was fascinated by everything he saw during his space flight; “We saw the moon really close. And that was a little scary.”

continuation

After the space flight, the project is not over yet. At school, children talk about what they experienced in Spacebuzz. The Planet Earth Ambassadors, as they might call themselves after the spaceflight, also give a “press conference” to fellow students and parents talking about their experiences as space travelers, just like real astronauts.

Spark Tech Lab

Before traveling to space, the students visited the Sparktech laboratory. A special complementary program has been drawn up there.

In this video we visit Spacebuzz and see Lennox during his “super crazy” spaceflight. Mission Specialist Mandy van Heijen tells us more about the project and that the Moon isn’t made of cheese: https://youtu.be/LIFGfvFfSlw.