Storm Force: The RNLI Stuff

Issue 148 | RNLI.org/Astro

INTO THE

UNKNOWN

EXPLORING COURAGEOUS CREWS, CURIOUS CREATURES AND INCREDIBLE COUNTRIES

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PEN YOUR OWN

CREW PATCHES The crews of the Artemis missions to the Moon will get to create their own spacesuit patches. Why not make your own crew patch using our online templates, or bring one of the designs here to life?

TBC

5 Real-life rescues

9 The deep end

12 Exploring Japan

14 Your shout

16 Odd creatures

18 Comic capers

There’s more stuff online at RNLI.org/Astro

Share the world of Storm Force with your mates!

Send them to RNLI.org/StormForce

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WHAT YOU'LL NEED A cereal packet, safety scissors, glue, coloured pens, tin foil, safety pin or hook and loop tape

Instructions: 1. Stick your chosen design to an old cereal packet and carefully cut along the dotted lines.

You'll find some blank templates to print off at RNLI.org/Astro 2. Use coloured pens to bring your design to life 3. Glue on bits of tin foil to make planets, stars or crashing waves 4. Ask an adult to help you attach a safety pin or some hook and loop tape to the back 5. Wear your crew patch with pride!

Be careful using sc issors and safety pins! Ask an adult to help.

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WE’D LOVE TO SEE YOUR CREW PATCH! SEE PAGE 15 TO FIND OUT HOW TO SEND US YOUR PHOTOS.

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DEEP SEA DEEP SPACE

9

T0

Astronauts and lifeboat crew have a lot in common.

A cool head? Check. Bags of courage? Check.

Lifesaving equipment? Check. A rock-solid team?

Check. It’s no surprise really – it takes a special kind of person to launch into the unknown

TO THE DEEP END, AND BEYOND! Being underwater is the closest thing to being in space, so, just like RNLI crew, astronauts train in a pool. The astronauts get to feel what it’s like to go on a spacewalk and practise how to fix things, like the submerged replica of the International Space Station. NASA’s* underwater lab is the world’s largest swimming pool – big enough to fit nine Olympic-sized pools in!

RNLI crew have a pretty impressive pool of their own: the state-of-the-art Sea Survival Centre can create waves and even a storm. *National Aeronautics and Space Administration (the US government agency that is responsible for science and technology in air and space).

'HOUSTON, WE HAVE A MISSING SOCK' Whether you’re launching into outer space or the Outer Hebrides, it’s important to have a dependable team around you. When there was an explosion on Apollo 13 on its way to the Moon, the team at Mission Control helped to get the astronauts back safely, with the help of some duct tape and one of the astronaut’s socks to make an emergency air filter!

RNLI crew members rely on a trusty backup team too – including shore crew who help to get the lifeboats in and out of the water. Rocket launches are planned years in advance, but RNLI crew have to be ready at a moment’s notice – the average lifeboat launch takes just 10 minutes. Beat that, NASA!

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THE MOON MATTERS Did you know that without the Moon there would be no tides? As it orbits the Earth, the Moon’s gravity pulls the oceans towards it, causing a bulge, or high tide, on the side of the Earth closest to the Moon.

High tides draw water away from the rest of the oceans, causing low tides.

The Moon is important for another reason. Astronauts are due to return there in 2025 on the Artemis mission. Artemis is the Greek goddess of the Moon and twin sister of Apollo, the name of the original Moon programme. Eventually, astronauts will build a moonbase that will help humans prepare for a mission to Mars!

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PLUCKY PIONEERS One of the reasons that the next Moon mission is named after a goddess is that it will see the first woman walk on the Moon. But the first woman in space was Valentina Tereshkova, in 1963. Pioneers like Valentina paved the way for future generations.

Another pioneer was Elisabeth Hostvedt, who in 1969 became the first fully qualified female lifeboat crew member. More recently, Di Bush became the RNLI’s first female coxswain. That means she commands Harwich RNLI’s all-weather lifeboat, Albert Brown. High five Di!

DID YOU KNOW?

LAST YEAR 20-YEAR-OLD GEORGE ‘CHAD’ YEOMAN BECAME RNLI SALCOMBE’S YOUNGEST LIFEBOAT HELM

DO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT STUFF? Like astronauts, lifeboat crews are a brave bunch – they’re prepared to drop everything, day or night, to risk their lives to save others. They train together every week, and it takes about 18 months to be a fullyfledged crew member.

SEA: THE FINAL FRONTIER

Astronauts have to put in a lot of practice too – it takes about 10 years’ training to be the next Buzz Lightyear.

And some have to wait years more for their first blast-off.

So it pays to be patient!

In the search for extraterrestrial life (aliens), scientists and engineers have sent spacecraft to every planet in our solar system, and beyond. It’s a field of science called astrobiology, and there’s a robotic rover exploring Mars right now, with the help of a little helicopter called Ingenuity. In fact, we know more about Mars than our oceans!

More than 80% of our oceans remain unexplored.

If Mount Everest were placed in the deepest part – the Mariana Trench – its peak wouldn’t even peek above the surface. Who knows what alien-looking creatures are lurking down there?

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TALK LIKE A

PRO

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Astronauts and lifeboat crew have a language all their own. Here’s your jargon-buster.

ALB

PUFFY HEAD BIRD LEGS

All-weather lifeboat

When astronauts get a congested head and wobbly legs due to loss of gravity

ILB

Inshore lifeboat

T-MINUS

The countdown time remaining until a rocket launch

EMU

Extra-vehicular Mobility Unit (a flashy name for a spacesuit)

HELM

The person in charge of an inshore lifeboat

WHAT’S YOUR ASTRONAUT NAME? Combine your favourite colour with the month you were born: RED BLUE GREEN YELLOW PINK PURPLE BLACK GOLD SILVER ORANGE INDIGO WHITE

BLAZE ACE NEWT HERSHEY PLUCKY EYEBALL SPARKY DALLAS SKIPPO MOXIE SCREECH MOONBEAM

JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER

LIGHTSPEED NOVA JETPACKER NEPTUNE BOOMER ACER GORDON WINGWALKER JUNO QUASAR STARDUST JENSEN

G-FORCE TO STORM FORCE! Both sets of crew have to withstand an uncomfortable ride.

During launch, astronauts experience g-force – extra pressure on their bodies due to acceleration and the effect of gravity.

And although our all-weather lifeboats don’t go into space, they can still hit some pretty scary waves. Special shockabsorbing seats help to lessen the impact for the crew.

Want to know more? See pages 16–18 or zoom over to the Crew Room at RNLI.org/Astro 21283258_Storm Force 148 Feb 2022.indd 11

Photos: RNLI/Nathan Williams, ESA, NASA/Robert Markowitz

Astronaut first name …………..…... Astronaut second name …………..…..........

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FUNZONE

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KNOW

W E R C R YOU

do which crew t u B . s e m a real nickn a line These are all – NASA or RNLI? Draw long to. e to e ship they b they belong h t d n a e m a ch n between ea

Y R E T S Y M S I J O M E

these spacey Can you work out d phrases? or watery words an

Sa

BEE

BUZZ

DEKE

PATCH SHAKY SKYRAY

EGGY

MURDO

TWEETY WINDSOCK

?

Y S A T N CT OR FA

FA

et. o live on our plan d ly al re s re tu ea t-of-this-world cr real.

Some of these ou nes you think are o e th k ic T . p u eSome are mad

1 Pelagia noctiluca

2 Formicidae

3 Lux edisonous

4 Antennarius hispidus

5 Spatium homicida

6 Psychrolutes phrictus

7 Extraterrestrial

8 Bathynomus giganteus

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