A SCIENCE project at Busy Bees pre-school in Ledbury is literally out of this world, as youngsters grow seeds that have been in space, on the International Space Station.

At the moment, the children can only guess which of the aptly-named rocket seeds have been in the void, and which have not, but that is the whole point of the fascinating experiment, called "Rocket Science".

The project is being carried out under the strict guidelines of the Royal Horticultural Society, in a bid to find out if seeds are affected by conditions in space, and the answers will be of crucial importance if Mankind is ever to colonise space and grow food away from earth.

Only the RHS is aware which seeds are which, and the task of the children is the monitor the growth of all the seeds and to keep careful records.

One thing is certain, however, all the seeds, which arrived last month, are growing.

Emma Davis, the Busy Bees manager said: "It's going very well, with the shoots now up to three inches tall.

"We can't tell which seeds have been in space. We have not been told."

The children still have great fun trying to guess, as well as entering their observations on a national data base.

Busy Bees, which is based at Ledbury Primary, has been provided with a data pack, so the children can follow instructions step by step.

They only know that some of the seeds have travelled quite a distance.

On September 2 last year, two kilograms of rocket seed blasted off into space from Baikonur in Kazakhstan.

They travelled on board the Soyuz 44S rocket on their way to the International Space Station, where they were stored in microgravity.

Miss Davis said: "Having spent six months on board the ISS with our own British Astronaut, Tim Peake, the seeds made their way back down to Earth with Scott Kelly on March 2.

"Busy Bees began the Rocket Science with two packs of seeds. Each pack contained 100 seeds, with one pack having been in space whilst the other remained on Earth."

Miss Davis added: "We don't know which is which so are excited to monitor the growth, observing any differences. The findings will be analysed and then published for everyone to see."