Surbiton students hosted a group of extra-terrestrial visitors – but these were no little green men.
NASA and the Natural History Museum lent meteors and moon rocks for a week of lessons at Surbiton High School.
The lunar samples were gathered by astronauts on the final three Apollo missions in 1971 and 1972.
Science teacher Dr Rob Bastin said: “We were very excited. It’s a real honour – these things don’t come to school that often.
“So often [students] only get to see these kinds of things in museums.
“It dawned on them just how precious the things they had in their hands were. I think they were all taken aback.”
Preparations for the rocks’ visit, principally organised by physics teacher Ann Pudney, was an event in itself.
Dr Bastin added: “The security we had to go through also made it a little bit daunting. It was like a president visiting, almost.”
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