posted 08-26-2025 03:12 PM               

Saturday 7th March 2026
Mitchell Hall, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, UK

Guest Speaker: Chris Sembroski
Chis has a unique story and will be sharing it live in the UK for the very first time. Representing the pillar of Generosity, Chris spent 3 days in space during the SpaceX Inspiration4 mission in 2021; the world's first all-civilian orbital spaceflight.

Chris will be joining us for a day of interactive events including meet & greet, lecture presentation, autographs, VIP audience with dinner, and more!

For anyone that has not attended one of our public events before, we focus on smaller audience capacity, maximum 200 people, for a more intimate and better guest experience. Our VIP dinner provides further opportunity to mingle with like-minded enthusiasts over a 3-course dinner, and spend more time with our Astronaut guest who will speak again and answer more of your questions.

These public events help us to fund our educational outreach projects which includes taking a coach full (50+) primary school children from disadvantaged areas to the National Space Centre (or other UK space attraction) for the day. We join them providing a personalise tour and talks not only about space and the exhibits, but also how they can change their stars and work towards a future career in the space industry.

Tickets now available online.

Please check the extensive FAQs or contact us if you have any questions.

posted 02-23-2026 04:14 PM               

Huge salute to The Armchair Astronaut for bringing Chris Sembroski to the UK and turning inspiration into real impact. Small crowd, big energy, bigger mission. Let’s fill those seats and help more kids change their destiny.

The space industry is bursting with opportunity — especially in engineering.
Roles like Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical/Electronics, Software, Systems, Propulsion, Materials, and Robotics Engineering are just the beginning.

The pipeline is massive, the demand is real… and yes, it is Rocket Science.

posted 03-09-2026 12:47 PM            

Following the afternoon lecture, I had an opportunity to corner Chris and ask him a few questions.

• Q: When you made your donation to enter the Inspiration4 contest to fly the mission, did you give any realistic thought to the skills you could contribute to the flight in the unlikely event you were selected?

  "I had no thought that I would be selected. There would be no chance that I would be the one out of the millions who entered the contest after seeing the advert at the Super Bowl - that my name would be selected, so it wasn't even on the horizon. However, when I was selected I did feel they were going to try and find some way to kick me off the crew so I asked myself ... how do I prove to them that I deserve to be here. So I gathered my thoughts and looked deep in to my resume to show that I loved space and that I had a lot of skills perhaps hidden under the radar that most folks didn't have. Thankfully, it took me a while to understand that this mission was very different; they were asking the question, how do we enable more people to have the opportunity and support them well to do that."

• Watching the Inspiration4 series on Netflix, you appeared to take the training in your stride... or in a bag, but was there any part of the training that you found harder than the rest?

  "Yes. Climbing Mount Rainier was particularly hard. I was most impressed that none of us quit that climb: none of us got injured, but we all asked for support in one way or another along the way. I knew that I was determined to make it up that climb no matter what, however long it took us. The average climb would take 5 to 6 hours. Obviously, we were not trained to make it in that kind of time, so it took us 8 to 9 hours… but it was all about completing the task rather than how long it took us to complete it. The best group hug I've ever had was at the 10,000 foot level – a moment of pure exhilaration, joy and relief that we had made it."

• When wearing the suit, did you get claustrophobic, and did they let you keep the suit?

  "I was not claustrophobic. The suit has a tremendous wide field of view unless the visor is up when the bottom of it does then limit your visibility… when you look up. That is why you see Dragon astronauts at the pad having to bend their knees and lean back when look up at the spacecraft. I did not get to keep my suit, however, Jarad (Isaacman) made some arrangements so SpaceX would permanently loan them out to various locations around the US. My suit was the first one released and is now on display at the Space and Rocket Centre in Huntsville, Alabama. Even my name tag, crew patch and stars and stripes flag remained stitched to the suit, and it will help to inspire kids for ever."

• What were your responsibilities on the flight?

  "My role as Mission Specialist was to maintain the centre of gravity of the spacecraft, monitor the cargo locations and keep a log of consumables for SpaceX . Similar to what I did as a reservist in the Air Force where I did airport operations with C-17s: ensuring cargo was secure particularly when it came time for re-entry."

• What as the most memorable part of the flight for you personally?

  "The Cupola was probably the most incredible part in terms of the mission, the hardware and the visuals. There were several other memorable parts; media calls and conversations where we connected with people all over the world, most meaningfully with the patients at Saint Jude Hospital. They asked some incredible questions and we all got our chance to answer some of those. Sharing the story, they felt inspired by a new sense of hope given the most challenging times they were facing"

• Do you have any regrets from the flight: was there something you wished you had done or had perhaps forgotten to do?

  "Yes, one thing we regret as an entire crew, is that we forgot that we had the capability to reorientate the spacecraft to point away from earth, then turn off all the lights in the cabin so we could more profoundly see the stars and the Milky Way galaxy. That remains a sore spot in my mind – if only we had two more days and had remembered to do that"

  

• The Apollo astronauts would joke how they felt bad for the scuba divers who first opened the hatch after splashdown for rather delicate reasons. How as that for the Dragon.

  "I felt sorry for the guys that recovered all our waste material as SpaceX used it all on research, and because of problems we had with plumbing onboard, we had extra in the waste compartment that did not smell pleasant. There was a privacy curtain that you could stretch across that splits the capsule in half more or less, which is also a reminder to afford your crewmate a little privacy: be sure not to pop your head up around the corner as airflow still has to move, so stay in the centre and give them the most respect. Inside the cabin itself however, we never experienced any unpleasantness as the filtering system worked tremendously well ... until you opened up the garbage!"

• What precious mementos did you carry in your PPK?

  "I ended up taking a necklace for each of my girls and a necklace for my wife. Both of my daughters now have a silver necklace with a silver Dragon pendant on there that floated in space."

• Would you go again if the opportunity arose?

  "In a heartbeat, but my wife has different plans. The joke is, the kids have to be out of school before I get to buy another ticket"

• Do you have any plans to write a book about your experiences on Inspiration4.

  "I am actively working on that. Its important to me to tell the story from my perspective and share it with people. I have a perspective that even my crewmates don't necessarily have. At the moment, I have an agreement with the publishers and an excellent editor so I am aiming to get in to final drafts this year. I really want it to sound like me so I am heavily involved in how it all comes out. I'm not using a ghost writer and I'm using a combination of tools to make that happen, be that dictating on my commute to work, dictating in to my phone at home, editing the text and using all the technology tools available to me to relay the story"