JAMES KELLY, 31, PHARMACY TECHNICIAN, ALABAMA

until it was pointed out that my space boots were on the wrong feet and my suit wasn’t sealed properly.

We were housed in purpose-built dormitories called “Habitats”, which look like humungous toilet rolls, piled atop each other beneath the lifesize Saturn V rocket (there’s an option to stay at a Marriott, which two men in my team took up). Inside the Habitats, we each had a basic room, sleeping in bunks with a shared bathroom.

The missions and experiments continued until graduation on Sunday lunchtime. We built and fired our own rockets to test the principles of thrust; we practised first aid in low gravity and were spun around by the “multiaxis trainer” – a ball-like machine that replicates the disorientation of a tumble spin during re-entry. Thankfully, all of us managed to hold on to our breakfasts, although one of the “Marriott Two” did look Martian around the gills.

The only time we got competitive was when we were split into two teams, and charged with building rival heatshields to protect eggs from a blowtorch. It quickly became about beating the other group, as we created our prototypes from a selection of materials. Sadly, our effort lasted 90 seconds before the “eggstronaut” was burnt and blackened.

By Sunday afternoon, it was odd to step off campus and come back down to Earth. It felt like we’d been at Space Camp for a week, taking on board an incredible amount of information. As an experience, this is just as rewarding for an adult as one imagines it is for the American high schoolers who flock here. As one of our trainers quipped: “It isn’t hard: all you have to do is put some space in your diary.”

Adult Space Academy takes place once a month, costing from £433 for three days, including food and accommodation (spacecamp.com). American Airlines operates daily flights from London Heathrow to Huntsville via Charlotte or Dallas/ Fort Worth from £622 return (americanairlines.co.uk). For more information, see huntsville.org and alabama.travel.