Ten-year-old Hannah King is heading for the stars with a logo design which will go into space abroad a rocket, writes Roseena Parveen.

Hannah, a pupil at St Helen and St Katharine's School, Abingdon, won the European Space Agency's (ESA) competition to design a logo for the launch of a telescope, called XMM, which is being blasted into space on Friday.

Her drawing of a rocket and a telescope will be painted on the fuselage of the Ariane-5 space rocket.

Hannah's design beat 350 other children's from across Britain. On Wednesday, Hannah and her mum will be whisked off to the European Space Port at Kourou, French Guiana, South America, to watch the launch. The logo will also be used on press kits, stickers and T-shirts. She said: "I'm very excited. I didn't think my design would be good enough to win. I've never watched a rocket launch before. I don't think I really want to be an astronaut when I grow up, I haven't decided yet."

Helen Rich, Hannah's teacher, had a hard decision to make, as only one picture could be entered from each class.

Ms Rich said: "We couldn't quite believe the news that we had won. We were totally stunned. It's fantastic.

"The BBC's Newsround team rushed here when the winners were announced so it's been very exciting for the school." The European Space Agency has 14 member states across Europe. The XMM is the largest X-ray telescope ever made and the largest ever European spacecraft, costing £500m to keep in orbit. The UK paid £75m into the project.

The competition was ESA's bid to stimulate children's interest in space and involve as many young Europeans as possible in the Agency's activities.

Peter Barratt, ESA spokesman, said: "The telescope will look at the hottest things in the universe, such as black holes and exploding stars."

The launch is the first European rocket launch to have young children attend as VIPs.

Story date: Monday 06 December

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