Eight year-old Eilidh Cooke from Annanhill Primary School in Kilmarnock has won the top prize in a competition to design a Mission Patch to be used during Mission Discovery Ayrshire 2018.
The Mission Discovery Ayrshire Programme will offer senior phase pupils from each of the Ayrshire local authorities the chance to learn directly from NASA astronauts, senior NASA members of staff, space experts and rocket scientists.
Mission Patches are now used on many space related projects and Eilidh’s winning design features a planet divided into two halves, one half of which represents space travel and shows the planet Mars with an astronaut.
The other half represents Earth and includes a map of Ayrshire which features items or places that represent some of Ayrshire’s most famous people including Burns Cottage, a McAdam road, penicillin and a pneumatic tyre.
Eilidh has won £1000 for her school and £150 for herself, while two runners up from North and South Ayrshire Councils won £1000 for their schools and £100 for themselves.
The competition comes ahead of visits that NASA astronauts will be making to Ayrshire in June as part of the Mission Discovery programme in partnership with Ayrshire College and the International Space School Educational Trust (ISSET).
All of the entries that were submitted to the patch design competition will be displayed during Mission Discovery week in June at Ayrshire College.
Head of Education Linda McAulay Griffiths said: “I am so pleased for Eilidh and think that her winning design is truly imaginative and very creative.
“We are delighted to work in partnership with Ayrshire College and South and North Ayrshire Councils to plan a week of activities in June focused around space. It’s incredible that pupils get to meet real astronauts and to take part in the Mission Discovery programme which has been so successful in enhancing pupils’ scientific and technological skills, while also helping to develop innovation and team work.
“Congratulations to Eilidh and well done to everyone who took part in the competition.”