How Ufa schoolchildren flew to the moon

It is said that the pioneer of the Soviet cosmonautics Friedrich Zander began his working day in the basement of the GIRD with the slogan "Go to Mars!" Well, today this invigorating appeal was used as the name of the integrated cosmosschool program “The Big Space Journey” of the Ufa club “Rosstan”.
As part of this program, on February 1, 2015, the flight to the moon science and technology role-playing game took place. Pupils of the school conducted a training flight to the moon on a Martian ship in a training complex based on the Orbiter simulator.

Crew

The training complex consisted of a “ship” and the MCC. In the ship there were two people, they were supported by three operators in the MCC. Before the start, I managed to talk briefly with the guys:

In the ship

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Ekaterina, 17 years old, experience at the club for two years, has been keen on space since childhood. She dreams to connect her life with astronautics.
Eldar, 15 years old, for the third year in the club, got into the club "geographically" - lives in the same house. I chose a space school because it is interesting. There are no clear plans for the future yet, considering the option of receiving technical education for work in the industry.
Both Catherine and Eldar are repeated winners of the All-Russian Star Relay competition, which is held annually at the Cosmonauts Training Center for them. Yu.A. Gagarin in Moscow.

In MCC


Alexander, 16 years old, is in the club for the third year, he became interested in space thanks to the film “Star Wars”, he goes to the club for pleasure, he has no plans to link life with space.

Timur, got into the club first in the Indian summer camp “Talking water”, learned about the space school and went to it because he was interested in space and stars. He is thinking of continuing his enthusiasm by enrolling in a space-related specialty at the university.

The third in the MCC was a graduate of the space school, now a student at MIPT, who came to Ufa to conduct several physics and technology competitions and help his native club.

Gym complex

The training complex is quite complex and atmospheric - many computers are connected to one network, flight data and video communication channels are displayed on the monitors. As an emergency channel in the event of a complete failure of communication, conventional walkie-talkies were provided. The room of the ship part is very qualitatively decorated in the space style:

Spacecraft layout

The Martian manned spacecraft is assembled from several modules of the ISS, the VASIMR engine and the Martian module from the BBC film Space Odyssey .
The spacecraft turned out to be very long, it is difficult to control, and the relatively small thrust of the electric jet engine means that the maneuvers will be carried out much longer than in the case of using chemical engines. These factors seriously complicate the flight.

Flight plan

The flight begins in Earth orbit. The Martian ship cannot independently start from the surface, it is going to orbit from separate modules launched on its launch vehicles. After assembly and arrival of the crew, the ship accelerates to the Moon (due to the low thrust of the engines, this occurs in several stages) and goes into the Moon’s orbit. In low circumlunar orbit, the crew enters the landing module, lands on the moon near the Riphean Mountains (the ancient name of the Ural Mountains), takes off from the moon, and fits in with the ship. In the final, the ship starts to the Earth and finishes in low Earth orbit:



The teamwork of the crew and MCC looks like this:

Flight results

After five and a half hours of real time and 15 days of the simulator, despite some technical difficulties and psychological fatigue from communicating with journalists, the flight was successfully completed in a circular orbit of the Earth.

Global plans

Role-playing game “Flight to the Moon” is just the beginning of the complex program “Forward to Mars”, which consists of several stages:

1. February 2015. Competition on the history of cosmonautics.
2. April 2015. Physics and mathematics competition.
3. May 2015. Technical competition (robotics, technical modeling, 3D modeling).
4. "Pre-flight training course" - developmental activities, excursions.
5. Scientific and technical role-playing game "Flight to Mars."

The program has the following objectives:

• The development of school students' interest in applied science and technology.
• Search and support for talented youth.
• Promotion of the achievements of Russia in space.
• Development of methodologies for the future youth aerospace center in Ufa.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I advise you to watch a very cute video showing the work of the Big Space Travel School for the last few years: