LONDON (AP) – There is no place like home.
Queen Elizabeth II reminded a group of schoolchildren studying space exploration of the importance of returning to Earth, while in a video call, she reminded the first man who undertook the journey – the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
The monarch, who invited Gargarin to Buckingham Palace shortly after his historic flight in 1961, was asked how the pioneer astronaut was, according to the call the palace announced Friday.
“Russian,” she replied, smiling as her audience laughed. “He did not speak English. He was fascinating, and I think the first one was particularly fascinating. ‘
Space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock, who presented the session in celebration of British Science Week, said it must have been scary to be the first man in space and not know what would happen.
“Well, and if you could come back,” replied the queen. “It’s very important.”
Wednesday’s call with students from Thomas Jones Primary School in west London was during a difficult week for the Queen after the royal family was shocked by charges of racism and insensitivity directed at them by Prince Harry and Meghan.
But despite the controversy, the queen continued her work, just as she had done for decades. Scientists from the London Science Museum briefed her on NASA’s Mars Perseverance mission and discussed the discovery of fragments of a meteorite in England earlier this week.
The group gave the queen a set of Mars Perseverance face masks sent from NASA headquarters to Windsor Castle. Professor Caroline Smith of the Natural History Museum requested 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 London hospital after undergoing heart surgery.