Pupils at English Martyrs Catholic Voluntary Academy in Oakham are preparing to become space biologists and embark on a voyage of discovery by growing seeds that have been into space.
In September, 2kg of rocket seeds were flown to the International Space Station on Soyuz 44S where they spent several months in microgravity before returning to Earth in March.
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.
English Martyrs is one of 10,000 schools to receive a packet of 100 seeds from space, which they have planted alongside seeds that haven’t been to space and measure the differences over seven weeks.
The pupils won’t know which seed packet contains which seeds until all results have been collected by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and analysed by professional biostatisticians.
Year 6 teacher at English Martyrs Jeff Hodgson 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 with the whole school.
“Mrs Tranmer’s after school gardening club will also be monitoring the seeds’ progress.”
The out-of-this-world, nationwide science experiment will enable the pupils to think more about how we could preserve human life on another planet in the future, what astronauts need to survive long-term missions in space and the difficulties surrounding growing fresh food in challenging climates.
Rocket Science is just one educational project from 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.
Applications to take part in Rocket Science are still open and will close in March next year or until all packs have been allocated.
Schools and educational groups can apply at rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening
Follow the project on Twitter: @RHSSchools #RocketScience