ONE of the world's top spacewomen landed at Bolton Lads' and Girls' Club to tell youngsters about her interstellar adven- tures.

The star struck youngsters had a host of questions for Marcia Ivins who was in Britain to speak to young business people in Manchester.

The 47-year-old astronaut, who has spent 1,009 hours in space in four missions, called in at the club thanks to Nick Hopkinson and John Fletcher who helped organise the British visit.

Marcia's most recent mission, onboard the Space Shuttle, was to the Russian space station, Mir. The Shuttle docked for five days before returning to earth where she undertakes a wide variety of tasks for NASA's space programme and spends a year in training once assigned to another mission.

The most popular question she is asked is also the most difficult to answer, she says. What is it like to go into space?

She said: "I always say to people you should think of something you have done which you find impossible to describe, and that is what it's like."

The youngsters at the Lads' and Girls' Club worked hard to make Marcia feel at home by making a magnificent space scene and a rocket.

Among the questions asked were, how does she go to the toilet in space? How long does it take to get into space? Has she seen any aliens?

Marcia is sceptical about claims that the public will be able to take space passenger flights in her lifetime, but she is hopeful the youngsters will find a way to go further into space and conquer humanity's final frontier. It is not like Star Trek and and Star Wars, but I always say to young people, go and invent warp drive!"

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