Space Week 2016

Space Week 2016 took place throughout our school from 3rd-8th October. Throughout this week we embarked on an educational journey that took us to space and back! On this mission we investigated our Solar System, the moons, Planet Earth, the stars, the sky& much, much more. We studied the globe, engaged with space related poetry and literature, created animations and mini films, undertook research online and went on virtual tours of space. Did you know………..? The first person to stand on the moon was Neil Armstrong. When he landed on the moon he said ‘That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’. These inspiring words have been echoed across the globe since his great discovery back in 1969.

Here are some more interesting facts about Space from the National Geographic:

1) “One million Earths could fit inside the sun - and the sun is considered an average-size star. 

2) For years it was believed that Earth was the only planet in our solar system with liquid water. More recently, NASA revealed its strongest evidence yet that there is intermittent running water on Mars, too! 


3) Comets are leftovers from the creation of our solar system about 4.5 billion years ago - they consist of sand, ice and carbon dioxide.


4) You wouldn't be able to walk on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus or Neptune because they have no solid surface!


5) If you could fly a plane to Pluto, the trip would take more than 800 years!


6) Space junk is any human-made object orbiting Earth that no longer serves a useful purpose. Scientists estimate there are about 500,000 pieces of space junk today, including fragments from rockets and satellites, and everyday items like spanners dropped during construction of the International Space Station!   

7) An asteroid about the size of a car enters Earth’s atmosphere roughly once a year - but it burns up before it reaches us. Phew!


8) The highest mountain known to man is on an asteroid called Vesta. Measuring a whopping 22km in height, it is three times as tall as Mount Everest! 


9) There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth. That's at least a billion trillion!


10) The sunset on Mars appears blue”.

Below is just a short selection of some of the projects undertaken in our school throughout Space Week.