Pupil's star trek to space school

Charlotte will work on the Nasa manned mission to Mars during her visit

While most pupils are enjoying the summer break, one teenager from mid Wales is heading back to school - space school in Texas.

Charlotte Jones-Todd, 16, is representing Wales on a two-week visit to Nasa's Johnson Space Centre in Houston.

The teenager, from Ysgol Uwchradd Tregaron, in Ceredigion, will work on the first human mission to Mars.

She will stay with astronauts with other students from around the world.

Charlotte, who jetted out to the United States on Friday, will also attend lectures, workshops and seminars delivered by the world's leading astronauts.

Speaking before leaving Wales, she said: "I have been planning this visit for some months. It's a trip of a lifetime.

"I still find it hard to believe that someone from a small rural town is able to visit such an important centre as the Nasa space centre in Houston."

Charlotte will spend two weeks in Houston, Texas

The Institute of Mathematical and Physical Sciences (Imaps) at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, is the main sponsor for her trip.

"Over the past few months we have collected many sponsors and I am very grateful to the university for its support," added Charlotte.

She will be joined by 39 students from 15 countries including Australia, Russia, Mexico, Italy, Bolivia, South Africa, England, India, Chile, Scotland and Namibia.

Dan Thomas and Llyr Garner, who also attended Ysgol Uwchradd Tregaron, visited Nasa's space school in 2003.