To return to my question yesterday as to what to do with several teenagers in the Belgian Ardennes region if its pouring with rain, a strong second answer must be to go to the Euro Space Center, near Libin, which is what we did this morning. The Center is a touching combination of proud, far-reaching ambition and achievement (Belgium has played an important role in space exploration and has certainly punched above its weight) and under-reaching commercial endeavour. There are some amusing interactive activities. The possibility of ‘walking on the moon’ kept our young men amused for about ten minutes, max., but they clearly genuinely enjoyed themselves. The various films were, from my point of view, a touching mix of Belgian and European pride. As to the European aspects, the Center is a good example of Europe’s de facto ‘multi-speed’ or ‘variable geometry’ nature: the European Space Agency has twenty (eighteen in the Center’s out-of-date presentation) member states, and two of those – Norway and Switzerland – are not EU member states…
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