Private School News

Moon Rocks Land at St Edmund’s College!

Rare samples of Moon rock and lunar dust landed at St Edmund’s College, in Old Hall Green this week, on loan from the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council. Meteorites of different kinds also formed part of the display and students were able to handle and study them, seeing the obvious differences in the materials they are made from.

The lunar samples were collected during NASA’s manned space missions to the Moon in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. During these missions the Apollo astronauts brought back to Earth 382 kilograms of lunar material. Most of this material is used by scientists to study the Moon, but NASA decided to use a small proportion of the rock and soil to develop lunar and planetary sciences educational packages.

Miss Sophie Kobylec, a physics teacher at St Edmund’s College who organised the Moon Display, said: “It’s incredible to think, that when you hold a meteorite, you are handling something that may have travelled millions of miles to fall on the Earth. Students at both the College and St Hugh’s, our Prep School, have really enjoyed examining the meteorites and learning about the work of the original space missions.“

Photo: Students from St Edmund’s College and St Hugh’s School examine the lunar samples.