Press Releases

July 03 2009

East Manchester pupils design a lunar lunch for astronauts

On Monday 6 July, one hundred primary school children from east Manchester primary schools including Armitage, Ashbury Meadow, Sacred Heart, Old Hall Drive, Ravensbury, Seymour Road, St Clements and St Francis will take part in a competition at MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry) where they will be asked to design a meal that astronauts can take into space.

The lunar lunches will be judged by astronauts from NASA who will be visiting the museum for the day. The winning meal will be given to the astronauts to take it into space.

The astronauts are the latest crew of the Discovery Space Shuttle who will be in Manchester to launch their educational mission to the UK. The team of shuttle STS-119, which is led by Astronaut Mission Commander Lee Archambault, returned from the International Space Station in June, and are in Britain to inspire the nation's budding astronauts and give first-hand information about their work in space.

Sean McGonigle, Deputy Chief Executive of New East Manchester said: "This project not only gets children thinking about nutrition, but also teaches the youngsters some basic business skills as they need to consider how they would produce and market the meal. The astronauts will be judging their menu on the day and so they must be able to explain why certain foods and packaging have been chosen, how much it would cost to make and how much they would sell it for. We also want to encourage them to do market research. The pupils will present their ideas to the astronauts which will be a very exciting experience for them and something I'm sure they'll remember forever."

Steve Davies, director of MOSI said: "This is a once in a life-time chance to meet astronauts, to find out first-hand what it is like to travel in space, and to learn about one of the world's most exciting projects - the International Space Station. We're delighted to have the STS-119 shuttle crew here at the Museum and hope that meeting schoolchildren in Manchester will be a fantastic opportunity to inspire young people to aim high and follow their career dreams. Tickets are now on sale for the exclusive evening event at the Museum - this will be the hottest night in town so book your places now!"

There will be 17 teams of 4 to 6 pupils from Years 5 and 6 (10-11 year olds) and the winning team will be presented with a trophy and all participants will receive certificates and a goodie bag.

For more details about New East Manchester visit www.neweastmanchester.com.

For more details about the Museum of Science and Industry visit www.mosi.org.uk.