Page 30 - Cadet Review Summer 2023

CEY Wing ATC
WING CADETS VISIT THE NATIONAL AEROSPACE CENTRE
By Flight Lieutenant Laura Kaye
Cadets and Adult volunteers from 2337 (Northallerton) Squadron, for the first time, took
a trip to the National Space Centre in Leicester. Accompanied by cadets from 886 (City of Ripon) and 2487 (Easingwold) Squadrons the 30 cadets and 4 adult volunteers had an early start for the 2 1/2-hour coach trip to the city. Officer Commanding 2337 Squadron Flt Lt Laura Kaye was accompanied by squadron staff FS Natasha Barber, Mrs Fiona Massey and Mr Andrew Massey on their biggest Squadron trip for a decade.
Upon arrival the cadets were treated to a private showing of the centre’s 'Astronaut' show in their Sir Patrick Moore planetarium and the largest full dome planetarium in the UK. The shows are fully immersive experiences with 'Astronaut' showing the impacts of space on the body and the different training environ- ments astronauts go through. Sgt Oliver Hewitt described the show as very realistic and it actually felt as though we were really moving.
Up next was a trip up the rocket tower to learn about the space race and the UK’s involvement in the development and delivery of space technology. The Thor rocket held at the museum held a particular close connection to CI Andrew Massey as his father
The challenging activity really fired up the competitive juices
Inside the National Space Centre
was part of the team that worked to create it.
After some free time to explore the museum and
a spot of lunch the cadets embarked on a 90 minute workshop exploring the evolution of the Mars rovers and learning some basic programming to manoeuvre their own mini rovers. In teams of three the 10 groups competed to manoeuvre the rovers around a series of obstacles and achieve several objectives such as firing catapulted missiles at little green aliens and docking at solar recharging stations. The challenging activity really fired up the competitive juices and led to some rather interesting programming sequences.
Flt Lt Kaye, who booked the workshop, said ' this really jumped out at me as an activity that would really engage the cadets and get them to use, not only their STEM skills but their communication and leadership skills as well. It got their imagina- tions going and the possibilities with these kits are endless, we all got a lot out of it'.
The remaining
part of the day was dedicated to the centre’s exhibitions on the universe, our solar system and our home planet. With so many interactive elements the time quickly came for a final group photo before the long bus journey home.
Of the trip Cadet Dakota Schofield of 2337 Squadron said 'I really enjoyed doing a trip with our squadron, and getting to know the cadets from different squadrons was fun too. The best part of the trip for me were the centre’s games - there were really challenging.'
Cadet Colm Dougherty, Cadet Joe Pearce and Cpl Kobe Hone interacting with one of the Thor rocket displays
Flt Lt Kaye and FS Barber meeting the Space Centre’s resident 'astronaut'
30 CADET REVIEW SUMMER 2023