Woolsthorpe Manor is one of 13 science centres and museums from across the UK selected to deliver an exciting space science education programme.

The National Trust property, birthplace of Sir Isaac Newton, has been chosen by the UK Association for Science and Discovery Centres (ASDC) and UK Space Agency.

Following on from the huge success of ASDC's Destination Space education programme, the UK Space Agency is supporting ASDC to create new space resources that will inspire families and schoolchildren with the exciting science and engineering of future space missions, including UK spaceports and space launchers, the new James Webb Space Telescope, the ExoMars mission and innovative ways to use data from satellites.

The programme will also cover celebrations this summer of the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing and look at how the moon might feature in future space exploration.

Woolsthorpe Manor will deliver these specially created space activities to children and adults from this summer until March 2021.

Esther Cropper, Woolsthorpe Manor Learning Officer, says: "We can't wait to start this programme. It will allow us to teach visitors all about current space science in an exciting and engaging way, and show how the work of Isaac Newton all those centuries ago, is still clearly relevant today."

The UK ASDC will lead the creative direction and management of the programme and activities and events will be created in collaboration with space researchers, engineers, academics, and those working on the spaceports, along with teachers and engagement specialists from the National Space Centre, National Space Academy and experts from the UK Space Agency.

Destination Space is the national STEM programme created and run by ASDC and funded by the UK Space Agency. The first phase ran from 2014 to 2017 and engaged, inspired and involved families with school-age children, school groups, teachers and communities across the UK with the amazing stories, science and achievements of human spaceflight and Tim Peake's Principia mission. Overall, 914,646 children and adults took part.

The new programme, Destination Space 2, aims to make a strategic step-change nationally in sharing cutting-edge space science and engineering with children, families and the public more widely. It builds on all the training, knowledge and enthusiasm for space science in science centres across the UK, enabling delivery of these amazing space activities into the future.

Catherine Mealing-Jones, Director of Growth at UK Space Agency says: "The space sector is growing fast and we'll need 30,000 more people to join it over the next decade to meet our ambitions for growth.

"In partnership with the UK ASDC, the UK Space Agency will bring the latest space science to children and families across the UK and help inspire the next generation of space scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs."

IMAGE: Planet at Woolsthorpe Manor © Grantham College / National Trust