by Vivien Martin
IT’S SCOTLAND ’S only interplanetary twinning: Glenelg (Earth) twinned with Glenelg (Mars)! Is this for real? I hear you ask. It certainly is! Glenelg on Mars was named after a geological feature in Canada, which in turn was named after Glenelg in Scotland and in 2012 NASA’s roving robotic laboratory, Curiosity, visited the Red Planet’s Glenelg.
Naturally Glenelg on Earth wasn’t going to let such an auspicious event pass them by, and a twinning ceremony was held in October 2012, complete with a live link to NASA. Guests included former astronaut Bonnie Dunbar, who flew on five space shuttle missions in the 1980s and 1990s on Challenger and Columbia!