SPACE seeds which floated for months in microgravity will fall into the hands of primary school pupils.

The so-called 'rocket seeds', which have survived a journey to the International Space Station and back, will be nurtured by schoolchildren at RAF Benson Community Primary School.

They will be given a packet packed with 100 of the seeds, which were sent as part of an educational project called Rocket Science launched by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and the UK Space Agency.

Lauren Boodell, who teaches the year three class at the school in Benson, said: “We are very excited to be taking part. This experiment is a fantastic way of teaching our pupils to think more scientifically and share their findings with the whole school and community. This experiment links in well with our termly topic of ‘gardener’s world’. We can’t wait to see what the outcome will be."

The school is one of thousands in the country to test the seeds, which will be grown for seven weeks alongside normal seeds to compare the difference.

Pupils won’t know which packet contains which seeds until results have been collected and analysed by RHS researchers.

The school hoped the experiment would provoke thought about the difficulty of growing fresh food in challenging climates.

Rocket Science is one of several projects launched to celebrate British astronaut Tim Peake’s space mission to inspire young people to look into careers in science, technology, engineering and maths.