Abu Dhabi school breaks world record for ‘Largest Gathering of People Dressed as Astronauts’

Abu Dhabi: A group of enthusiastic students and educators in white suits and helmets at Repton Abu Dhabi have broken the Guinness World Record for the ‘Largest Gathering of People Dressed as Astronauts’.

The 940 record-breakers — students, teachers and staff from Year 2 and Year 7 at the school’s Fry campus — were commemorating the UAE’s third anniversary of the landmark mission to the International Space Station.

Student designs

All spacesuits worn were required to meet strict criteria set out by the Guinness World Records. Students spent weeks designing and making their own helmets, and wore their country flags on their arms, highlighting the diverse UAE community represented by Repton Abu Dhabi’s students. The record was verified on-site by an official adjudicator on Tuesday.

Steven Lupton, school principal, said: “Today [Tuesday], we commemorate the UAE’s landmark mission since it embarked on an incredible journey to the International Space Station over three years ago. Our students have been closely following the UAE’s milestone achievements in space with an instinctive curiosity and genuine love of learning about the wonders of the galaxy. We are absolutely ecstatic to honour the occasion with this exciting achievement verified by Guinness World Records. I would like to thank all the students, teachers and staff who have made this record-breaking event possible.”

Previous record

The previous record for the same feat was held by Nerve Centre — Our Place In Space in the United Kingdom, which set the record on April 23 this year. This is the first Guinness World Records title attempted by students of Repton Abu Dhabi.

Luca Hughes, a Year 5 student at the school, was elated to have broken the record.

“My favourite part of the preparation, which we’ve been doing for about a week now, was making the suits and the helmet. I loved designing the suits. It means a lot to break the world record,” he said.

“My favourite part has been drawing the astronaut suit and adding all the designs we can think of. I started it by doing the designs that I liked to make it wonderful,” said Celine Turkiyeh, a Year 4 student.

Maris Borovac, a Year 3 student, also loved the level of creativity involved.

“We could create any designs [we liked on the helmets] like little stars, planets, or even the NASA logo, it was all up to us. It was a really creative process. We all helped each other as a team so that we were all on the same page,” Borovac said.