AN out-of-this-world trip awaits an East Lancashire student after he secured a place at the United Space School in Houston, Texas.

Nathaniel Stanton, who is in Year 13 at Haslingden High School, will be joining the school’s head of media studies, Ben Farnworth, who is also the space school’s headteacher.

The Space School offers places to around 30 students from all over the world and is based at the University of Houston’s Clear Lake Campus.

When Nathaniel returns he intends to take up his place at Sheffield University where he has been accepted onto an aeronautical engineering course.

Mr Farnworth was appointed the Space School’s headteacher in 2012 and spends six weeks during the summer in Texas running the school.

Nathaniel, 17, said: “One of my friend’s saw an article about Mr Farnworth being headteacher of the space school and suggested it might be of interest.

“Mr Farnworth said he was looking for someone from the school to go and I applied.

“I had to write an 800-word essay about why I wanted to go to the school.

“After that I was shortlisted and had a 45-minute Skype interview with the leaders.

“I was a bit nervous – it is not every day you get interviewed by a space agency.

“It was more about getting to know who I was and my character. Then I got an email saying ‘congratulations’ and I was delighted.

“It is going to be a unique experience and something not many people get to do.

“I am a big Star Trek fan and I have always loved the idea that there are things out there that we don’t know.

“We will be working in groups and assigning various tasks, planning a theoretical manned mission to Mars.

“I am looking forward to seeing how different people approach the same problem.”