Queen visits Nasa base on US tour

The Queen met British-born Michael Foale at the Nasa centre

The Queen has visited a Nasa space centre on the final day of her six-day state tour of the eastern US.

She met staff and toured mission control at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, just outside Washington.

She was accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, who toured spacecraft test facilities and robotics at the base.

The crew of the International Space Station spoke directly to the Queen from space via video link and thanked her for her interest in the project.

This is quite amazing. Quite an achievement HM the Queen

Speaking from the International Space Station, second engineer Suni Williams told the Queen: "It's a wonderful place to live so thank you very much for joining us today."

The astronaut added: "This is a stepping stone to going back to the moon and on to Mars."

Although she did not speak to the crew, afterwards the Queen said: "This is quite amazing. Quite an achievement."

British-born Nasa astronaut Michael Foale explained to the Queen that the crew were travelling at 17,000 mph over the US, and would be above the UK in 10 minutes' time.

Route map of the Queen's carbon-offset state visit

Later on Tuesday, the Queen will pay tribute to American soldiers at the National World War II Memorial and go to the Children's National Medical Center in Washington DC with first lady Laura Bush.

On Monday, she met President George W Bush at the White House, where she attended a state banquet at which she praised the special relationship between the US and UK.

The tour has included visits to the famous Kentucky Derby horse race at Churchill Downs in Louisville, and the site of the first permanent English settlement in the US - Jamestown in Virginia - to mark its 400th anniversary.

In Virginia, the Queen extended her sympathies to those affected by the shootings at Virginia Tech last month.

The tour is the Queen's first carbon-offset state visit, where a donation is made to an environmental charity to offset the plane journeys made by the royal party.

THE QUEEN'S FIRST CARBON-OFFSET STATE VISIT

Total air miles - 13,317 km or 8,275 miles
Amount of CO2 emitted based on scheduled flights - 1. 5 tonnes
Estimated offset cost per person - £13.20 to £14.18 ($26.22-$28.17) depending on type of offset package

Source: The Carbon Neutral Company carbon calculator

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