It might seem like a dream voyage to be inside a space shuttle, but astronauts are prone to loneliness, anxiety and depression, like everyone else," says Chaitanya Raghavan, a student of VIBGYOR High. Raghavan, 12, is probably the oldest in a group of children, in which the average age is eight. To watch tots spout adulting lingo and discuss the mental health of astronauts might seem unusual, but it all makes sense when you realise what they're on to.

Making space for innovation
Inside the air-conditioned room at Oshiwara's On My Own Technology, a robotics lab, team Livewires is prepping for the First Lego League, an international competition that challenges kids "to think like scientists and engineers". This year, the theme is Into Orbit, for which participants will have to choose and solve a space-related problem. Team Livewires' answer to battle a low when high up is in the form of a fully functional Virtual Reality system that is integrated with a robot.