SALE pupils from two schools are preparing to become space biologists and embark on a voyage of discovery by growing seeds that have been into space.

In September 2015, 2kg of rocket seeds were flown to the International Space Station (ISS) on Soyuz 44S, where they spent several months in microgravity before returning to Earth in March.

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

St Margaret Ward, in Cherry Lane, and Wellfield Junior School in Ashton on Mersey, were among the up to 10,000 schools to receive a packet of 100 seeds, which they will grow alongside seeds that haven’t been to space and measure the differences over seven weeks.

The children 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.

Sarah Goodman, a Year 3 teacher at Wellfield Junior school, said: "This experiment is a fantastic way of teaching our children to think more scientifically and for them to be involved in something which could have a huge impact on future space explorations. In anticipation of the seeds’ arrival, the whole school held a ‘Space Day’ during which the children, amongst many other things, created space food and designed and launched their won rockets.”

Science co-ordinator at St Margarget Ward, Mrs Watkins, said: “We are very excited to be taking part in Rocket Science."

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 STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects, including horticulture.