The Next Malaysian Astronaut - 1st training @Saga Space & Science Museum

Last Saturday we went to Saga Prefecture: Space & Science Museum in fulfilling our mission to prepare baby SN to be Malaysian Next Astronaut. By Astronaut here I mean "An astronaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft". Instead of being a commercial astronaut which was sponsored to be a space travelers who did an unknown experiment with unknown result that was unpublished anywhere on earth but being awarded the term "astronaut"; and then after that was sponsored to celebrate his mass wedding party. Owh,without any further explanation, I hope you get what I mean

Following Benjamin Mays suggestion that "A child must learn early to believe that he is somebody worthwhile, and that he can do many praiseworthy things"; we (hubby & I) both agreed that bringing baby SN to this Space & Science Museum in Saga is worth it despite the saying that he is too young to enjoy this kind of place.

=- The next Malaysian Astronaut; in the making -=

This Saga Prefecture: Space & Science Museum is located in Takeo City and about 1 hour 30minutes car journey from our home in Imajuku. It operate between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. everyday except on Mondays (unless Monday is a public holiday – then it’s open). The admission fee is 500 yen for adults to gets in the front door, but if you really want to test your space-related skills you have to pay another 500 yen for a ticket to the planetarium show.

=- the entrance door and the entrance ticket -=

These 3 story huge building was filled with lots and lots of science and space related facts and exhibitions. It looks like that Baby SN wasn't the one that learn new things, but it can also refresh mommy-daddy's knowledge in this science thingy.

=- left pic: the skeleton and I looks alike to each other rite? -=

It can also be a test on how mommy-daddy can possibly used all those knowledge on science that we had learned years ago and transferred it to baby SN's mind, erm..such a great challenge being a parents nowaday. Errrr, can I just let the teachers do it for me? hehehe

The 1st floor exhibited some water tank concept, energy theory, solar energy usage, water energy objects, calculation of speed from sound waves, and lots of other exhibitions available there.

=- speed gun section -=


=- measures speed from the sound waves; that's my achievement -=

=- water energy -=

Baby SN was amazed to see those exhibition and he enjoy being there as well as trying his hands-on experience on those things.

=- hands-on experience to understand the concept of energy transfer through mechanical work -=

=- solar energy used to generate the movement of the small aircraft -=

Take a look at the video below and you can see how astonished baby SN looks like when he watch how the water tanks work. These video can be used as a living proof on what Maria Montessori once said: "Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world!".

=- baby SN was amazed by the water tank exhibition, as I spot him saying "oh, wow!"(00:11-00:20) -=

The 2nd floor houses exhibitions on basic science such as the propagation of sound, vision through fly & fish eyes, listen through elephant & rabbit ears, the making of giant bubbles, Doppler effects, sound waves, mirror effects, kaleidoscope concept, gyroscope theory, optic illusion and many many more.

=- propagation of sound -=


=- bouncing ball -=


=- optical illusion -=

We had so much fun playing around in front of the mirror and see various kind of deformation to our body.

=- kaleidoscope -=

There's also a distorted room to test our body equilibrium. Knowing myself, I didn't dare entering the room as I already feeling nausea just by standing at the entrance door. Therefore, I just waited for hubby & baby SN outside of the room and took their photo.

While the 3rd floor accommodate space related facts as well as a planetarium. We really enjoy our stay in the planetarium as we had a nice rest and sleep inside it because the show was conducted in Japanese. Thanks to the show, baby SN get to 'recharge' his energy by drinking mommy's milk and sleeping soundlessly till the end of the show hahahaha.

However, we did enjoy other exhibition on the space section though baby SN is still too small to experience the walk on the moon chair and the zero-gravity chair.

=- space vehicle -=

Baby SN get to sit on the control room chair with daddy and he also got to sit on the spacecraft chair with mommy.

=- in the control room -=

=- baby SN is launching the spacecraft -=

In fact, baby SN is the one that was steering the space vehicle while mommy sit still and accompanied him ;).

=- baby SN is controlling the walking on the moon experience with mommy -=

Being in this space sections had somehow remind me of my good old young days during my master studies when my classmates and I were given a chance to have a video conference with European Astronauts i.e Thomas Reiter during his 2006 missions in space. I shall share the experience of sitting closely in the European Space Agency (ESA), Germany- control room with you in the next entry.

Overall, it can be concluded that the trip to Saga Prefecture: Space & Science Museum is an interesting educational activities to both parent and child. Somehow I took it seriously on what Fredeick Douglas once said that "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men". I'm hoping that with this early learning process applied to baby SN, I can simulate baby SN's brilliant mind and later on he can turn mirrors into windows...insya Allah.

Psssttt : Despite the happy experience there, baby SN had accidentally fall on the pavement at the car park area. Poor my little baby, benjol dan calar2 dahi dia; kurang 10sen darjah kehenseman huhuhu.