Key regional players in the space industry gathered at Newcastle’s Life Science Centre last week to launch World Space Week, the biggest global space event, and to hear more about Life’s ambition to provide a space experience for all North East schoolchildren.

The international celebration of science and technology, which is coordinated by the United Nations, is held annually (4-10 October), and this year is themed around space and climate change.
To mark this, people working in the region’s growing space sector, met to explore a new partnership designed to inspire the region’s school children and to make them aware of the huge variety of exciting career opportunities available in the sector.
Opening the event, North East Mayor Kim McGuinness, said: “I am determined the North East becomes the home of real opportunity, and part of that will come from creating jobs in cutting-edge sectors including the space industry, which is expected to be worth over £500 billion by 2030. We can’t all hope to go into space, but we should reach for the stars in our region’s future.
“I applaud the work that Life does in raising the aspirations of young people from all backgrounds across our region, igniting the spark for our future engineers, technicians and everyone else needed to realise the North East’s space ambitions, and much else besides.”
Life offers one of the most exciting and comprehensive space engagement programmes in the North with a dedicated space zone complete with International Space Station and Mission Control and a state-of-the-art Planetarium (the biggest in the region). It offers a widespread programme from pre-school days to adult events, family experiences to school workshops – all with the purpose of igniting and nurturing an interest in space and highlighting its relevance to everyday lives.
The wide-ranging programme has received praise from astronauts including Helen Sharman, Tim Peake and Chris Hadfield, who have all visited Life.