A school in the UAE has entered the Guinness World Records for hosting the largest gathering of people dressed as astronauts.
Repton Abu Dhabi commemorated the UAE’s third anniversary since its landmark mission to the International Space Station (ISS) by having 940 students, teachers and staff from Year 2 to Year 7 participate in the record-breaking event held at its campus.
The record was verified by an Official Adjudicator from the Guinness World Records on-site.
All spacesuits worn were required to meet the strict criteria set out by Guinness World Records.
Students spent weeks designing their own helmets, and wore flags of their respective countries on their arms, highlighting the diverse UAE community represented by the students at the school.
Steven Lupton, Principal of Repton Abu Dhabi said, “Today, we commemorate the UAE’s landmark mission since it embarked on an incredible journey to the International Space Station (ISS) over three years ago. Our students have been closely following the UAE’s milestone achievements in space with an instinctive curiosity and genuine love of learning about the wonders of the galaxy.”
Lupton adds, “We are absolutely ecstatic to honour the occasion with this exciting achievement verified by Guinness World Records. I would like to thank all the students, teachers and staff who have made this record-breaking event possible.”
The previous record was achieved by Nerve Centre – Our Place In Space (UK) in Derry, Londonderry in the United Kingdom in April last year.
Students were just as thrilled upon achieving this incredible feat, as this was the first Guinness World Records title ever attempted by students of Repton Abu Dhabi.
Sharing the experience, Year 5 student, Luca Hughes, says, “My favourite part of the preparation, which we’ve been doing for about a week now, was making the suits and the helmet. I loved designing the suits. It means a lot to break the world record!”
Pupils pointed out designing the space suit and helmet was particularly fun. They used light cloth to make the astronaut suits while meeting the set criteria, and the helmets were mostly made out of paper bags. Some of them even wore gloves.
Year 3 student at the school, Maris Borovac, says, “I was really excited about designing the helmets. We could do any designs like little stars, planets, or even the NASA logo; it was all up to us! It was a really creative process. We all helped each other as a team so that we were all on the same page.”
Year 4 student at the school, Celine Turkiyeh, adds, “My favourite part has been drawing the astronaut suit and adding all the designs we can think of. I started it by doing the designs so that I could make it look wonderful.”
© Khaleej Times
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