A SPACE school for children with their eyes on the stars was launched in Dundee on Saturday.

Pupils from primary six classes across the city visited Mills Observatory for the first session in the six-month programme, which will culminate in a summer school in Dundee run by astronauts and staff from the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas.

The school will take place once a month and is hosted by Abertay University and Dundee Heritage Trust.

Experts from the university will discuss topics like astronomy, physics and engineering. At Saturday’s event Bill Samson from the Mills Observatory talked-about astronomy.

The children were also given a tour of the RRS Discovery, which is officially linked with the Space Shuttle Discovery.

Three of the men responsible for forging that link— Abertay honorary fellow John Beaton, former director of the Johnson Space Centre George Abbey, and ex-NASA consultant Dundonian John Smith—came up with the idea for the school.

Dundee City Council education convener Councillor Kevin Keenan said “This is a very exciting venture which I am sure will capture the imaginations of the children involved.

“The city of Dundee is renowned as a knowledge centre and we are at the forefront of some very important scientific discoveries.

“This space school harnesses the skills and enthusiasm of the city council, Abertay and their local partners.

“I am very pleased that there will be input from Houston to this venture.

“This will be an excellent experience for the pupils involved and I hope it will give them the inspiration to follow up what they learned through the rest of their school career and beyond.”

John Beaton added, “This country has been renowned internationally for centuries as the producer of inventors, scientists and engineers.

“As the worldwide need for these skills are greater than ever, it is now most important that we encourage more of our young fertile minds towards science, technology, engineering and maths.”

Professor John Palfreyman, deputy principal of Abertay University and head of its school of contemporary sciences, said, “This initiative will inspire our future citizens to get engaged with science.”