Moon landing's 50th anniversary celebrated at Shropshire airfield with NASA blessing - in pictures
The 50th anniversary of the moon landing was celebrated on a small airfield in Shropshire on Saturday, with the blessing of the NASA space agency.
Shropshire Aero Club turned its headquarters, Sleap Airfield in Wem, into a fascinating collection of memorabilia from 1969 and a fun 'Space Lab' for children.
Led by 'Professor' Graham Wrightson, the lab took children on an exploration of the moon's surface, saw the practice dexterity skills to match those of the astronauts in their clumsy space gloves and carry out experiments.
There was also the chance to join in with astronaut training, a mini fitness camp on the airfield.
Among those visiting were brothers seven year old Jackson and five year old Joel Walklett from Wem who enjoyed making explosions from indigestion tablets and cola.
Their mother, Michelle, said the open day was brilliant.
"It is fun but also very informative."
She said the home educated brothers had learnt about space when astronaut, Tim Peake, was in the space station and had been involved in the space seeds project.
Sleap Aero Club member, Danny Bidgood from Wellington was joined by his grandchildren, Jacob and Mia, who said they had really enjoyed their day.
The free event was dreamt up by Dr David and Marjorie Somerville as a way of marking the moon landing and promoting the aero club.
One of the committee members, Mike Green, said:
"They were sent memorabilia from Nasa and the Smithsonian Institute who were both very generous. And when the club wrote to the American Embassy it wrote back thanking us for what we were doing."
He said the link between the moon landing and Sleap was in helicopters.
"The moon capsule landed on Mars in the same way as a helicopter lands on earth. RAF Shawbury is the British base for training military helicopter pilots and uses us regularly."
