Behave like the astronauts and have a lockdown mission

JUST BEFORE the country went into lockdown I visited the National Space Centre in Leicester.

It is somewhere I have been meaning to visit for ages, having seen the sign every time I go down the M1.

It is a remarkable place with wonderful exhibitions about the space race, the universe and space travel.

I was particularly interested in the moon landings, because I remember watching it on television back in 1969.

My father wasn’t with us to see it, because he was on Ascension Island that whole year, working with a government organisation that was providing backup to NASA and the Apollo 11 mission.

At the National Space Centre they have many rockets, space suits and training capsules used to prepare astronauts for the rigours of life in space.

The one thing that really comes across is the confined space that they are expected to live in.

There was a lot of information about Tim Peake, our British astronaut who has spent 185 days over three missions on the International Space Station.

You may have seen him on the BBC’s One Show, where he compares lockdown to being in space.

The comparisons he makes include being separated from family, communicating via video calls and having to exercise inside a confined space.

One of the essential things that astronauts are trained to do, to help them to cope, is to focus on mission.

They have to be mission oriented. The mission for space station is to push back the frontiers of knowledge.

All that they do will actually have a purpose and will have human impact.

For all of us in lockdown, it is useful to think that you really are playing a part by isolating. We are collectively an important part of the mission to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

An important thing in space is to have a routine and a schedule.

Having such a routine can be helpful if having to stay at home with children and pets.

If you don’t have some structure then it can lead to chaos, irritability and boredom.

In space everyone has to be part of a team.

If you are in lockdown at home with several people, try to get that team spirit going and pride in a sense of mission.