Schoolchildren have come down to earth after a scoop when a film they put together was beamed to the International Space Station for British astronaut Tim Peake to watch.

East London Advertiser: Astronaut Cmdr Tim Peake, Soyuz 45 crew member, during training [photo: James Blair/NASA]Astronaut Cmdr Tim Peake, Soyuz 45 crew member, during training [photo: James Blair/NASA] (Image: NASA)

Their Footsteps in Space movie put together by pupils at Bethnal Green’s Columbia Primary was one of eight short films selected from schools around Britain by the Into Film education organisation and the UK Space Agency, to be screened in space.

The youngsters were invited to a West End screening last week where they received a special message from Commander Peake.

Their movie tells the story of a group of space travellers who land on the Moon to visit a friend and get stranded when aliens steal their spaceship to repair their own galactic vessel.

The travellers spot footprints on the Moon surface and trace them to the alien vessel.

But the aliens turn out to be friendly and give them a lift back to Earth.

The Columbia Primary pupils came up with the story idea and were in charge of the scene shots.

“Making a film is a good way to learn about science and space,” the school’s creative teaching co-ordinator Philippa Jordan explained. “The kids made models for the film and learned about the space station, working out the shots themselves after creating the story-board.”

The school was given £2,000 by Canary Wharf Group for the project. The 30 pupils involved did all the artwork, created the characters and background and even the sound effects and voice-overs.

One of the young movie-makers, Year 6 pupil Nishat Mannan, 11, said: “I want to go into Space when I grow up and see what’s out there.”

Nishat would like to see the real footsteps on the moon left by the first American astronauts back in 1969.

But she is “gravitating” towards being a teacher.