Moon Landing Anniversary
20th - 21st July. Join us for a fabulous weekend of activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first astronaut on the Moon. There will be lots of fantastic activities during the day including rocket launching plus there will be a speaker on the evening of the 20th followed by viewing through the telescopes.This will be a momentous weekend!
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Daytime Activities
- Science Shows
- Rocket Launching
- Creating Craters
- Building Moon landers and buggies out of recycled materials
- An opportunity to see the 26-inch refracting telescope, one of the telescopes that was used by Sir Patrick Moore to map the Moon. These maps were used by NASA to locate the best landing site for the Apollo missions.
All this plus our fabulous hands-on interactive exhibits are included in your regular admission price. Daytime Admission Price
Please note that the extra interactive activities will only be available during the day.
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Evening Activities
On the evening of the 20th July we will have a talk by Robin Mobbs a lead educator for the National Space Academy, all about Apollo 11. This will be followed by viewing through our fabulous historic telescopes (weather permitting). All our indoor interactive exhibits will be available throughout the evening and the outdoor exhibits will be available at the beginning of the evening before it gets too dark. Telescope domes not open during the day will be open in the evening and fingers crossed if the weather is good you will be able to have a look through the giant telescopes at some fabulous night sky objects.
Gates Open at 6.30pm
Talk will take place at 8pm
Price: £12.00 per adult; £8 per child
Bookings can be taken in advance however you are able to pay at reception on the evening. Please note this event has been very popular and tickets purchased in advance have priority seating for the talk. While we are saving a few non-reserved seats there are not many left.
On-line booking is now closed.
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Robin Mobbs
Robin Mobbs studied Maths, Chemistry and Engineering post-16 before completing a BSc and PGCE at university. Robin has been a Lead Educator with the National Space Academy since 2012. He has had roles as Head of Physics and Head of Science. Robin has now retired from full time teaching but continues to educate and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers!
Robin has an Advanced Skills Teacher status award and is a mentor for the Stimulation Physics Network of the Institute of Physics plus he was a Space Ambassador for the Tim Peake Primary Project. He is a regular contributor to Association for Science Education meetings and has worked in Subject Knowledge Enhancement sessions for the University of Hertfordshire.
Robin has run space sessions in many schools across the region and more widely in places such as the Royal Astronomical Society, the Telegraph Museum near Land's End and even Shanghai. He has been to The Observatory Science Centre before and delivered some fantastic interactive talks suitable for all ages.
Robin's particular interest lies in human spaceflight with personal knowledge gained through discussions with astronauts. He is a keen developer of new resources for teachers such as the Astro Academy: Principia project, the Lunar Loans scheme and Laser Applications for the Science and Technology Facilities Council and Marsquake with the British Geological Survey. He is at the forefront of using computer video analysis for Physics in real-world and out-of-this-world scenarios. His teaching materials using the Physics of a pendulum to measure the g-forces experienced by Tim Peake during launch were taken up enthusiastically by many schools. Tim agreed that "the analysis was brilliant".
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Image courtesy of John Fox
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Title of the talk and brief synopsis
Apollo 11
At 20:17:39 GMT on July 20th 1969 the Apollo 11 Lunar Module landed on the Moon. Six and a half hours later Neil Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface and announced " That's one small step for man ... one giant leap for mankind." About twenty minutes later Buzz Aldrin joined him while Michael Collins orbited in the Control Service Module above. Historic moments for mankind as the world watched the flickering pictures on black and white televisions.
This talk explains how they did it; the way they operated the Saturn V rocket that took them there, the new technologies that had to be developed, the operating techniques that had to be formulated, practised and refined, how they navigated their way through cislunar space to land safely (just), The astronauts trained for their ground-breaking journey believing that they had a 50/50 chance of returning to their watching families.
Now, 50 years later, there are plans for humans to return to the Moon and then go onwards to Mars. But who will get there first? Is another space race starting?
One Moment Please
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The Observatory Science Centre is part of Science Projects Ltd, a company limited by guarantee registered in England No: 02186073 and a registered charity No: 298542. The registered office is 3 – 15 Stirling Road, Acton, London. W3 8DJ. UK.