ALMOST 12 months ago Eggar’s School created an opportunity for a group of year nine and year 10 students to visit the Russian city of Korolev.

Viewed as a once-in-a-lifetime trip for 58 students during the summer of 2016, the driving force behind this decision was to give students “real life experiences” outside the classroom and to open their eyes to the world of STEM-related careers.

It is an extremely exciting time in British space history with Tim Peake’s Principia mission, the UK’s first astronaut on the International Space Station, and Eggar’s is delighted to be given the chance to go and experience the same environment Tim was trained in.

On this trip, the Holybourne-based youngsters will get to visit mission control, attend lectures by experts of space technology enterprises of Korolev City, well known Russian cosmonauts, and top specialists from the Department of Education.

Students will also have the chance to work with and solve actual problems which engineers at mission control are tasked with by the cosmonauts on the International Space Station as it orbits the Earth.

And they will visit the Russian Cosmonauts Training Centre and the Museum of Rocket Space Corporation where they will receive guided tours of mission control.

The students will also be travelling to Moscow to visit the space corporation, Energia, where they will see artefacts from the Russian space programme.

But it’s not all about space and while in Moscow the pupils will gain an understanding of the culture and language of Russia through visits to the Kremlin which means ‘walled city’. There they will visit St Basil’s Cathedral, Red Square, the Lenin Mausoleum or Catherine the Great’s wedding dress.

Pupils will also ride the Russian Metro, which is nothing like the London underground. The stations are museums in themselves commemorating the Second World War as well as many other historic events.

And they will get the chance to visit the old market streets of Moscow where they can barter with stallholders for trinkets and souvenirs to take home.

Prior to going to Russia, the school will be visited by members of the European Space Agency, via the Mars Rover, and one of the current European Space Agency space suits will come to school for a week.

The students will also take Russian lessons from Bristol University lecturers and a star dome will be coming into school during the spring term.