Abu Dhabi student soars to new astronaut world record

Enterprising students at an Abu Dhabi school assemble world’s largest space all staff.

Repton Abu Dhabi Boldly Goes Unprecedented, Sets Guinness World Record for Largest Dressed Man astronaut.

A total of 940 young learners between the ages of 7 and 12 changed their uniforms to homemade spacesuits emblazoned with their country’s insignia. The previous record was 716 set earlier this year by a school in Derry, Northern Ireland.

Brave kids spent hours crafting their suits, using their favorite colors, and creating personalized helmets.

School celebrates UAE’s rapid progress in global space race in record Sultan Arneadi A six-month mission to the International Space Station is set to begin in 2023.

Ambition has no limits

“We’re very excited about setting the world record, it’s a unique opportunity,” said Steve Lupton, principal of Repton Abu Dhabi.

“Our students and the entire Repton community are very proud and excited to be a Guinness World Record holder.

“I hope this further expands their ambition and confidence in what they can achieve in the future.

“As a society, I feel we’re going to depend on this generation of students to make significant advances in science and technology for the benefit of people and the environment, and we need them to believe they can achieve anything they want.”

Breaking records and teaching children about space is in line with the school’s focus on innovation and science and technology, he said.

“We’ve always worked hard to inspire our students, facilitate and encourage them, and set ambitious goals for ourselves.

“It’s also setting an example for us, especially for our Emirati population, as about 20 percent of our students are Emirati.”

set your sights on space

Riddhi Hoonjan, 9, a fifth-year student at the school, said it was her dream to one day be an astronaut.

She said her big dreams were inspired by the late Kalpana Chawla, the first woman of Indian descent to go into space in 1997.

The Indian student said she enjoyed making suits.

“I am most excited about being an astronaut. She (Kalpana Chawla) is from India and I think she is very brave to go to space,” Riddhi said.

Scottish student Sebastian Sagar, 10, said he drew a keyboard with buttons and numbers on his suit.

“I thought it was fun and made me feel special that I managed to be part of this world record,” Sebastian said.

“My family helped me sew some things and I painted some other things.

“I have a little badge on my suit with my name and my flag on it.”

Year 4 student Harvey Scott-Lupton from Australia said he would definitely have his lucky number 9 printed on the suit.

“Hazza Al Mansouri is my favorite astronaut,” he said.

The student said he loved being part of the record and designing his suits.

“I added three buttons to the helmet, one red, one orange and one green, to make my suit special,” he said.

UAE’s growing space sector – pics

Updated: October 25, 2022 9:58 AM