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Moon Rock at House of Manannan 12 July 2004 This summer there will be a unique opportunity for visitors to the award winning
House of Manannan on the quayside at Peel to see an exhibition that really is out of this world.
From July 20th there will be a exhibition on the top floor of the centre
entitled "Mann in Space" and this
will feature a sample of Moon rock brought to Earth back in 1971 by the Apollo
15 mission.
The exhibition celebrates the links of the Isle of Man to the space community
and has been arranged in conjunction with a local based company ManSat Ltd which
has offices in Onchan, London and in Houston Texas.
NASA in the United States agreed to loan the sample to Manx National Heritage to
mark the 1025th anniversary of Tynwald, and the 35th anniversary of the first
moon landing.
The Chief Executive of ManSat Ltd, Manxman Chris Stott, was able to arrange for
the piece of rock to be loaned from NASA, which is one of the largest pieces
that NASA loans out for public view. The exhibition also shows the crater
Manannan on one of Jupiter's Moons, Europa, which has been identified as a
potential landing site for an unmanned space mission in the not too distant
future.
Curatorial Services Officer of Manx National Heritage, Kirsty Neate commented.
"It was a unique opportunity for us to show the island's links to the space
community. and provides a rare chance for all of our visitors to see a piece of
scientific heritage that was collected from the moon over 35 years ago."
The Exhibition also features the Isle of Man Astronomical Society, who celebrate
their 15th year in 2004, and their observatory at Foxdale. The Society are
hosting a meeting of the British Astronomical Association at the Manx Museum on the Island on September 10th and
11th and it was felt that this exhibition would compliment this prestigious
event.
CEO of Mansat Chris Stott commented:
"It was with great pleasure that we were able to secure the loan from NASA to
Manx National Heritage of the Apollo 15 sample. Two of the crew of Apollo 15 Jim
Irwin and Al Worden visited the Island back in 1981 and Irwin actually visited
four times in total, so taken was he with the Island, prior to his death in
1991."
The Exhibition will be open from noon on July 20th to 14th September 2004 at the
House of Manannan from 10.00am to 5.00pm daily. More stories >>>
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