INTEREST in Earth and space rocketed this week at a Darlington school when students were given the opportunity to handle a piece of space history.

Rare samples of moon rock and lunar dust arrived at Polam Hall Junior School, in Darlington for a flying visit.

Year four students were able to handle different types of meteorites, coming from as far away as the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

The lunar samples were collected during Nasa's space missions to the Moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

During these missions, astronauts brought back 382kg of lunar material.

Most of this material is being used to study the moon, but Nasa decided to use a small proportion of the rock and soil to develop its educational packages.

Angela Foster, junior school headteacher, said: "This is a fantastic experience for the students and they were fascinated by the exhibits."

Professor Keith Mason, of the UK's Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, said: "It is incredible to think that when you are handling a meteorite you are touching something that may have travelled millions of miles to fall on the Earth."