Pupils at Nelson Primary School in East Ham are preparing to become space biologists and embark on a voyage of discovery by growing seeds that have been into space.

They will join pupils from 10,000 other schools that have been selected for the educational scientific experiment to grow seeds that have come from the International Space Station (ISS).

A total of 2kg seeds, which have spent the last few months in microgravity aboard the Soyuz 44S, will return to earth in March and packs of 100 seeds will be distributed to the participating schools.

Pupils will grow the space seeds alongside ones that haven’t been into orbit and won’t know which ones are which until all the results have been analysed by professional biostatisticians.

It is hoped that school children will learn more about how human life could be preserved on another planet in the future.

They will also discover what astronauts need to survive long-term missions in space and what difficulties surround growing fresh food in challenging climates.

Ms Stephanie Clunie, class teacher and science leader at Nelson Primary School, said: “We are very excited to be taking part in Rocket Science. This experiment is a fantastic way of teaching our pupils to think more scientifically and share their findings together as a whole school and within the wider community.”

The seeds have been sent as part of Rocket Science, an educational project launched by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and the UK Space Agency.

It forms part of a programme developed by the UK Space Agency to celebrate British ESA astronaut Tim Peake’s Principia mission to the ISS and inspire young people to look into careers in science, technology, engineering and maths subjects, including horticulture.

Schools can apply to participate in the project until March 2017. For more details visit click here