Installing Astro Pi for the ESA Education Mission Space Lab

In this timelapse, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot sets up the hardware for Astro Pi Mission Space Lab, which challenges student teams to calculate, as accurately as possible, the speed at which the International Space Station is travelling. They do this by analysing data from the onboard Astro Pi sensors or camera to determine the orientation and motion of the Station as it orbits Earth. Eligible programs receive flight status and are deployed on the Station.

The European Astro Pi Challenge, a continent‑wide initiative run by ESA Education in collaboration with Raspberry Pi Foundation, has already helped over 188 000 students develop their Python skills and design experiments for real hardware on the International Space Station. Having their code run in orbit, and receiving authentic images and sensor data back, offers young learners a uniquely inspiring experience.