​It was fun at the first ever SpaceUP UK! 

It was 2 full days of action in a perfect layout at the trendy King's Cross Impact Hub, with the support of 2 friendly staff. Here is a full view of the room(s) while we eagerly awaits for everyone's arrival!

People came from all parts of Europe, as well as all parts of UK to host sessions and participate in discussions. People of NASA and of ESA came along too! The event has been reaching far and wide. On social media, it reached 2.4 million audience on earth, and a little bit beyond. In fact, SpaceUP:UK has reached slightly beyond the crust of Earth with @Astro_Alex setting the records by tweeting to us from the orbit, yes, from the orbit!  

Three seem to be the magic number during the weekend! There were three rooms, three organisers, three sponsors and three breaks for each day. Incidentally, three astronauts said "Hi"s  too. @Astro_Alex said hi from the Orbit and @Astro_Wheels from Mission Control, Houston. Tim Peake said Hi on Skype from Start City at Russia and we continued on for a good half an hour (+) of Q&A!  It was amazing and much appreciated for Tim to take some time to talk to us during the busy training schedule in Russia. Don't forget to take the tea into space, Tim! 

The days were packed and the three rooms were running at capacity. Exhibitors has created a great atmosphere and discussion areas. Unexpected conversations came up at the ISU stand when Steph and Chris started to talk about art and how it mixes with space. It was a perfect event for discussions, discussions and discussions:

Citizen Inventor had 2 modest booking at the Mars room to discuss how to kick off projects on cubesats together, as well as how to get EXOSKN, the open source space suit project off the ground. A lot of useful discussion and the rooms were packed with extra chairs on both sessions. So thank you all for contributing on the day. More importantly, please help to keep the discussion and everything else going, join us and take some actions! Watch out for upcoming events to get more projects off the ground. It's never too late to join. 

Towards the end, Kate (one of the organisers) was spotted to be under the influence of a different gravity in Mars (room), or was it the effect of Pubs nights? 

If you've missed all these, well, don't miss the next one! But you can still catch a glimpse of SpaceUP:UK with regards to the schedule and topics covered at SpaceUP:UK's schedule page. Links to presentations are getting updated in time, so keep checking back over the next month or so.  Media coverage will be updated there over time too, so keep polling the site.

​For the very first time, SpaceUp is coming to London on the 5-6 July: SpaceUp UK organised by a small group of volunteers. Catch this chance, come along and show that you care and wanted something like this to happen in the UK more often! Tickets are available at spaceupuk.org now and check the website for useful information which would be post up over time. 

Unlike a traditional conference, an “unconference is a participant-driven meeting”. Preparing for it sounds heavy perhaps getting to understand the concept is a better way to describe it. But none the less, this great guide will give you a lot more details on how to prepare to attend an unconference (pdf). But in short, going to an unconference is like going to a conference, democratised - that means you are the speaker (as well as the audience)! But wait a minute, you did not think it’s all just powerpoint in a lecture hall, did you?  But equally, don't be shy, if you are not up for being the only speaker in the room, you can always start and discussion and get everyone exchanging ideas (and here is some useful guideline on etiquette). The format, length, topic of session can vary a great deal and here are some examples for inspiration:

Ok, so now get your thinking hat on and pick your style. Don't forget to get the tickets! It is an unconference, how exciting will you make it? 

Spread the word, spread the love!

​There' s the ESA Summer of Code for students, but if you are no longer a student and still wanted to do space related coding - watch out for the Hackathon at the Satellite Applications Catapult which is now open for registration. The dates are 28-29 June, 2014.

And there's nothing more exciting than the first ever SpaceUp unconference in the UK on 5-6 July, 2014 - get your early bird ticket for 25GBP before the 25 May.  If you are unfamiliar with unconference, here is what wiki said: "Typically at an unconference, the agenda is created by the attendees at the beginning of the meeting. Anyone who wants to initiate a discussion on a topic can claim a time and a space. Unconferences typically feature open discussions rather than having a single speaker at the front of the room giving a talk, although any format is permitted." - but don't worry, keep an eye on the SpaceUp UK site, it will be releasing more tips and information in the run up to the day, so watch this space - just save the date and get the tickets already! Come to tell and hear about space at SpaceUp UK. 

​The World Space Week as declared by the UN is going to be in October, it's a while away but a week full of space event is happening in just under 2 week's time in UK: 

• The UK Space Agency is holding its second UK Space Conference in Glasgow  on 15-17 July. 
• AMSAT is holding a The AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium 2013 in Surrey on 19-21 July,
• Citizen Inventor is holding its first event "Getting going in Space - what's out there?" in the Open Data Institute on 24 July. 

Don't miss them!