Celebrating human exploration in space

Funded event
Written By Emma Wride

This event was funded by the UK Space Agency

Throughout the school summer holidays, AstroCymru along with Artist Sarah Bridgland delivered a variety of space related activities to families and residence of Trebanog in the Rhondda Valleys at the Waun Wen Community Centre.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landings, using resources from other projects such as ESERO’s Mission X, Is There Anyone Out There and the Faulkes Telescope Project, our weekly workshops consisted of presentations on various Moon topics as well as hands – on Moon related activities. These included:

  • Making and Launching Rockets

  • Train Like an Astronaut

  • Down2Earth - Craters and Meteorites

  • 3D Space Shows

Participants also used a variety of art and craft materials to create a large community Moon mosaic. Audio recordings of memories of the Moon landing of July 20th 1969 were collected from local people who remember the events happening. A radio show was produced from the various recordings. The project was successful in:

  • Delivering a variety of space related STEM activities in regions of low science capital

  • Providing opportunities for older people to socialise with wider community

  • Decreasing social isolation and loneliness to the older generation

  • Increasing cross generational interactions

  • Providing opportunities for the younger generations to participate in regular activities

  • Decreasing exposure to anti-social behaviour

  • Increasing the audience knowledge of the Apollo missions, Moon landings and the technology used at the time

  • Increasing awareness of U.K. Space Agency and U.K. space industry careers

Fully funded by the U.K. Space Agency, the intention of this project was to bring families of all ages of the community together and raise awareness of the space industry in the South Wales Valleys. As part of this project we collected memories of the first Moon landings of July 20th 1969 from local people who remembered the events of the day. These can be heard on Astro Radio by clicking here.

Emma Wride