Our GCSE Russian and Physics students got to experience an ‘out-of-this-world’ webinar yesterday as they warmly welcomed Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazansky.
Joined by other schools across the UK, our students eagerly tuned in as Sergey took us on an otherworldly journey from how he became a cosmonaut in the first place (which not only involved numerous exams but also survival training and skydiving!) to what his work involves. It was fascinating to hear about the experiments that are carried out in the International Space Station, from growing crystals and molecules to observing how other organisms cope in space.
Being away for months at a time, Sergey stressed the importance of having a positive attitude during flights and bringing as much of ‘home’ up in space. From Christmas parties to making pizzas, life in the ISS certainly seems far from boring. In fact, Sergey even participated in the 2014 Winter Olympic Games when he and his colleague performed a spacewalk and took the Olympic torch outside the ISS!
A keen photographer, Sergey shared some of his breath-taking photos of our beautiful planet.
Thank you, Sergey, for this incredibly insightful talk. We wish you the best of luck in your future expeditions!