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23rd July 2006

Space Cadets

37 Years after man first walked on the moon, cadets from 134 (Bedford) Squadron were taken back to that moment in time and were taught about the Apollo 11 mission.

The evening begun with a short Woody Woodpecker cartoon from 1950 which was designed to introduce the American nation to the idea of space travel. This was followed with a talk from AWO Taylor, one of only two members of staff on the squadron, who had been born when the moon Landings occurred, albeit only by a month. This lesson showed the cadets the timeline from 1961 where President Kennedy first committed America to Walking on the moon through to the moon landings.

The cadets were then shown a montage of video footage from the Apollo 11 mission, including take off, looking down on the earth, landing and the now famous small step for (a) man.

The cadets had been asked to turn up in a space related costume, The ingenuity of the outfits was impressive. We had several scientists, two Neil Armstrong's and even a Buzz Lightyear! The winning costume was judged to be worn by Cdt Adam Smith, who turned up as Neil Armstrong, including a helmet and oxygen pack. It was deemed so good, we decided to re-enact a moon walk and the planting of the US Flag on the moon surface.

They should all be sent into space!

The evening was concluded with the cadets being split into teams and being asked to design their own Apollo Mission Patch. A task that the cadets keenly set to.

AWO Taylor said of the evening "I am pleased to say that the cadets clearly enjoyed learned about this important part of modern history"