My first trip on a space shuttle

That morning, I woke up to the accompaniment of the rising sun and the singing birds. I slowly sat up,
lazily stretched, yawned loudly and then quickly made my way to the bathroom. I did my chores, got
dressed, hurriedly gobbled down my mouth-watering pancakes and headed to school that Monday
morning. On arriving at school, I chatted with my friends. Soon, the bell rang and we all assembled in the
auditorium to say our prayers. When we were finished, our principal, Mr. Steve Henry told us that he
had some exciting news to share with us today. He then announced that the student who scores the
highest in our term test which was carded for the following week will be awarded an opportunity to fly
abroad the next space shuttle mission. I had always dreamt about visiting space one day and finally, I
could have the chance.

My eyes twinkled with amazement as I rushed home to tell my mom the exciting news. She too was
very thrilled and encouraged me to work assiduously. Days went by and I studied every day after school.
Finally, the day for our much anticipated end of term test was here. I was ready but I still felt butterflies
in my stomach. As my teacher shared out the Maths papers, my eyes hurriedly scanned the questions
and they all appeared to be easy. Without any hesitation, I completed the test. I gave up my paper and
after my teacher corrected it, she looked at me with a huge smile across her face. Mr. Henry bolted to
the stage to inform us about the results. I trembled like a leaf in a snowstorm as my cold hands sweated.
“The student who got the highest in the Maths test is…Renée Mohammed!” he exclaimed. My
excitement knew no bounds and I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs, but I managed to hold it in.
As proud as a peacock, I strutted to the stage. The principal congratulated me as he shook my hand and
gave me a huge hug. School was soon dismissed and it was now our Easter vacation. I was so looking
forward to my trip and the day was finally here. My mom and I drove to our destination, the Space
Centre where the shuttle would be launched.

On arriving at the famous space centre, NASA, I excitedly jumped out of the car, bid my mom
farewell and left. As I entered the humongous white building, I was kindly greeted by my space guide,
Mr. Tom Johnson. After I registered, I was given my very own astronaut suit. It was white, had a clear
helmet and was very beautiful. The best thing was that it had a name tag with my name boldly printed
on it. I carefully got into my suit and Mr. Tom welcomed me into the shuttle as it was nearly time for
take-off. The inside of the shuttle was very spacious and had many controls, just like an airplane. We
soon did the countdown, “Three! Two! One!”, we yelled as the shuttle launched into the air and we
were on our way to out of space. As we got higher into the air, Earth got smaller and smaller until it was
just a tiny dot like a grain of sand. The longer we travelled, the darker and more silent it became with
every passing moment.

Soon we were greeted by billions of stars that twinkled brightly and covered the galaxy like a large
carpet. I knew we had reached our destination. I began floating around the shuttle and finally, I could
walk on air. I remembered that my teacher had explained in Science class that space had no gravity.
While looking out the tiny glass window, we passed various planets including a gas planet, a flaming red,
orange and white planet known as Jupiter and a grey planet called Venus. My shuttle landed on the
planet called Mars which was brown and green, with many craters and volcanoes. We exited the shuttle
and I opted to spacewalk to explore this beautiful and mysterious planet a little further.
 I walked for a few minutes and while collecting some rocks and other grains, I heard a strange voice up
ahead. Suddenly, I couldn’t believe my eyes. “Was I seeing correctly?” I asked myself as I rubbed my
eyes and looked again. What I saw in the distance was indeed real. My mum and I had read many tales
of aliens and other lifeforms in space, but I never imagined that they existed and I would be fortunate to
encounter one. The alien was green, wobbly and had big, blue eyes. As he walked, he left a slimy trail
behind him. “Hello!” I called out loudly and he turned around and said something. He was
communicating in a weird language and I couldn’t understand anything. I tried to be brave, but I was
really terrified as I called out for Mr. Tom. He was able to translate what the alien was saying. I soon
learnt that the creature was just trying to tell me that his name was Robbie and he wanted to know
where I was from.

Robbie looked very harmless and I soon learnt that he was also quite friendly. I told him that my
name was Renée, I was from planet Earth and this was my first time visiting outer space. He then placed
a little box into my hand and motioned for me to open it. I carefully opened the green box and inside I
saw a beautiful necklace with a heart-shaped gem. Robbie told me that the gem was very ancient and
magical and every night, it would glow and I could see him from wherever I was. Gladly, I accepted it,
thanked him and promised to always communicate with my new-found friend.

As Mr. Tom and I were walking back to the shuttle, we decided to stop and build a few castles from
rocks, salt and other materials. I carved my name on one of the castles with the message ‘Hope your
adventure was as great as mine!’. We also left our hand and foot prints on this beautiful planet and I
hoped that they would remain there forever. Mr. Tom and I did some star gazing and I had a fun time
just floating around. We also visited some of the robots that I read about on Mars. Soon, it was time to
go and as I boarded the shuttle, I waved goodbye to Robbie and his planet one last time. After a few
hours, I could see Earth up ahead. We landed and I saw my mom waiting for me at the parking lot. I
waved goodbye to Mr. Tom and thanked him for all his efforts. On my way home, I happily told my mom
about my adventure and my new friend. Every night before bed I would see Robbie and talk to him.
Also, every day at school, I wore my necklace to remember my journey into outer space.

I had loads of fun visiting space and would always remember that day as if it was yesterday. Seeing
all the planets and learning about the solar system was very educational and exciting. Flying in the
shuttle on the mission was enjoyable and I hope I can go back to space one day. Visiting space was
surely the best moment of my entire life and I had learnt a very valuable lesson. If you work hard, you
can achieve anything.