LONDON (AP) – There’s no place like home.
Queen Elizabeth II reminded a group of schoolchildren studying space exploration of the importance of returning to Earth, while reminiscing in a video call about the first man to make the journey: the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
The monarch, who invited Gargarin to Buckingham Palace shortly after his historic flight in 1961, was asked what the trailblazing spaceman was like, according to details of the call released by the palace on Friday.
“Russian,” she replied with a smile as her audience chuckled. He didn’t speak English. He was fascinating, and I suppose it was particularly fascinating at first. ”
Space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock, who hosted the session on the occasion of British Science Week, said it must have been terrifying to be the first man in space and not know what would happen.
“Well, and if you could come back again,” replied the queen. “That’s really important.”
Wednesday’s call to students at Thomas Jones Primary School in West London came during a difficult week for the Queen, after the royal family was startled by accusations of racism and insensitivity directed at them by Prince Harry and Meghan.
But despite the controversy, the Queen continued her work, just as she has for decades. Scientists at the London Science Museum briefed her on NASA’s Mars Perseverance mission and discussed the discovery of fragments from a meteorite in England earlier this week.
The group gave the queen a set of face masks from the Mars Perseverance rover, which were sent from NASA headquarters to Windsor Castle. Professor Caroline Smith of the Natural History Museum asked that one of the masks be given to Prince Philip, the Queen’s husband, because of his long interest in science and space exploration.
The prince, 99, is recovering in a hospital in London after undergoing a heart procedure.