Phase 1
Destination Space Phase 1
A national programme celebrating the achievements of British ESA Astronaut Tim Peake and the wonders of human spaceflight.
Destination Space is a national STEM programme funded by the UK Space Agency, to engage, inspire and involve families with school-age children, school groups and communities across the UK with the amazing stories, science and achievements of human and robotic spaceflight and exploration. Phase 1 was part of a national celebration of Tim Peake's Principia mission.
ASDC and partners created, developed and delivered an excellent set of science engagement equipment along with a suite of activities including an interactive hands-on family show, three curriculum-linked STEM workshops for schools, a series of ‘meet the expert’ activities and special event and branding materials. ASDC then selected, equipped and trained 20 UK science centres to deliver the full Destination Space programme to inspire people across the nation with Tim Peake’s mission.
Between October 2015 and January 2017, 733,017 children and adults participated in Destination Space Phase 1, taking part in schools workshops, family shows or at events to celebrate Tim Peake’s launch into space and safe return. Of these, 100,244 were school students who had been brought by teachers to science centres to take part in specific curriculum-linked schools’ workshops. Overall, 75,741 people met and spoke with a space scientist or engineer through the special meet the expert events, helping to showcase the types of careers that are possible with science. Phase 1 of the programme completed in January 2016 and a final project report was submitted to the UK Space Agency.
Take a look at the UK Space Agency's Principia website here
- See the Destination Space National Programme: Final Report
- See the independent academic evaluation report of Destination Space
Since January 2017, Science Centres have continued to use Destination Space workshops, shows and activities to inspire audiences in a range of formats and contexts, reaching out to new audiences and utilising their expertise and passion to create an ongoing celebration of space science, engineering and human space flight across Science Centres in the UK. This has directly engaged an additional 181,629 children, young people and adults in the Destination Space programme.
Of these 52,104 were school students participating in curriculum-linked schools workshops and events, and 6,803 were teachers. 5,460 children and adults met research and industry space scientists through Meet the Expert sessions, career events and space talks in 2017. In total an additional 2,187 separate events have taken place.
Throughout the programme of Destination Space Phase 1, between October 2015 and February 2018, 914,646 people have taken part in Destination Space schools workshops, family shows and activities.
This number includes:
- 362,157 children and adults who took part in the Destination Space family show.
- 152,348 school children and teachers who took part in curriculum-linked shows and workshops.
- 80,201 children and adults met with a space scientist or engineer showcasing space science and engineering careers.
In addition, Destination Space has reached at least a further 1,135,786 visitors through exhibitions and interactive zones, dedicated space themed galleries and summer seasons, which have creatively utlised the equipment, themes, stories, activities and knowledge from this exceptionally popular national programme.
The 20 centres across the UK who took part in this programme:
- Aberdeen Science Centre
- At-Bristol Science Centre
- Cambridge Science Centre
- Centre for Life
- Dundee Science Centre
- Dynamic Earth
- The Eden Project
- Eureka! The National Children's Museum
- Glasgow Science Centre
- Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre
- The National Space Centre
- Royal Observatory Greenwich
- Science Museum
- Techniquest
- Techniquest Glyndwr
- The Observatory Science Centre
- Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museums
- W5 Interactive Discovery Centre
- Winchester Science Centre and Planetarium
- World Museum, Liverpool Museums
For more details on continuing Destination Space programmes, please contact your nearest participating centre
