Since Cymru III gently smashed into the surface of Europa the other day, the crew have wasted little time getting to grips with setting up the first Welsh base on another planet.  Megan ran round and round in circles, barking endlessly at falling flakes of frozen methane, and Dilwyn rocked back and forth with his head in his hands.

But once he realised that all the beer, buckfast and even the furniture polish was destroyed along with the rest of the ship, including the island organic chocolate limes (from Mull) he knew it was time to take decisive action.

Without further ado, he rescued the re-useable onboard co-op carrier bag and set off in search of a Costcutter with an off-licence somewhere amidst the vast frigid landscape of this alien moon.

We're now starting to get the early details about the touchdown itself - (touchdown, of course,  being used in the loosest possible sense)

Only about an hour late Dilwyn and Meg pushed all the furniture to the front of the ship to tip the craft towards the surface to start the descent as planned. 

From there things all happened a bit quicker than we expected.  Cymru III then accelerated to about 800mph in a perpendicular descent to smash into the surface ice  some 1,100 miles from the proposed landing site - which is pretty close for us though.

The insurance company did start to quote all legalese stuff at us when we first rang them to claim for a new spaceship.

"The definition of accidental damage is that which occurs suddenly as a result of an unexpected and non-deliberate external action. blah blah blah"

Yes, we know smashing into an unknown planet's surface in a glorified grain silo might not be describable as a  non-deliberate act.  But it wasn't our fault nobody had told us about re-entry friction, and ballistics and all that stuff. And we certainly didn't intend it to catch fire and start to burn up on re-entry.

Anyway, they were very good about it and have decided that from an insurance point of view, Cymru III is a write off and they will pay the £325 (less £250 excess).  Lucky we bought fully-comp.

on behalf of

Wrexham Football Club (2006) Ltd*

(and Wales).

You can make one yourself on special magically, ink-pregnated paper by printing it off on your own printer and reciting a special magic mantra as it comes out.

You need to download it in two parts then nail the top bit to the bottom bit, or get mummy or daddy to do it for you, and put a hole in the top bit before sticking it on the wall.  Then stand back and admire. 

http://www.welshspaceagency.org/downloads/calendar1.pdf

With Cymru III on the last few orbits before turning nose-ward for the surface of Jupiter's moon, Europa, we're all very excited here at WASA Towers.  None more so than our in-house car-parking space measurement executive, Morris Spoon.  Seen here giving Dilwyn, Meg and the mission a big thumbs up before heading off up the big wooden hills to bed.

Morris wears eye protection to sleep on account of the relative fecundity and abundance of insects and other wildlife in his attic bedroom.  He can be seen here wearing the special commerative tee-shirt Mamgu knitted for his birthday.  And of course, his bedtime Bovril.

Naturally, this being a first for Welsh Aeronautical and Space something beginning with A, we're all on tenterhooks as the relative distance between our craft, Cymru III and Europa's icy surface decreases towards zero. We're also quite worried about the alarming speed at which the twain shall meet. But we're modestly optimistic they can make it to the surface in a low number of pieces.  But if not, Uncle Rhodri has baggsied Dilwyn's car.