LOCAL teenager Joe Gibson could be forgiven for staring into space during his lessons over the next few weeks.

The 17-year-old is preparing for ‘lift off’ in a once-in-a-lifetime trip to NASA’s world famous Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas.

He’s one of four pupils from Inverclyde who saw off competition from 400 other Scottish students to land one of the much-coveted 10 places on the eight day US trip in October.

Joe, who hopes to follow in the footsteps of the famous Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, says he can’t wait to meet astronauts and get an exclusive preview of Orion — the space agency’s newest manned spaceship which is being prepared for its first mission in December.

He told the Tele: “It’s pretty incredible to be selected and it’s not sunk in yet.

“Most of the trip has been kept a secret but we’ve been told that on the first day we’ll have dinner or a pool party at the house of an NASA astronaut or flight director which will be amazing.

“Were also going to visit Lockheed Martin, an aerospace company where the Orion spaceship is being built.

“That will be incredible, as in the future it will take people in to deep space and Mars.” Joe, who studies at St Columba’s in Gourock, and three other Inverclyde pupils — Emma Thomson from Inverclyde Academy, Sophia White from Clydeview Academy and Mairi Shaw from Notre Dame High school — attended the Scottish Space School at Strathclyde University earlier this summer and now they’ve ended up booking dream tickets to NASA.

Joe added: “The space school was a great experience.

“One of the biggest challenges was to design a product which would improve the lives of astronauts in space.

“I designed a comb with holes in the teeth so that when astronauts brush their hair with water, the water would stick to the comb and not fly away and go in to the electronics.

“I could not believe it when they said that I won that challenge.” After completing various challenges at the space school, the pupils also had to undergo rigorous interviews last week.

Joe said: “We were asked questions about why we wanted to go to NASA.

“I said that I would open my eyes to the various types of engineering that I might want to go into.” Teacher Louise Stewart has congratulated Joe on his achievement.

She said: “Everyone at St Columba’s High School is extremely proud of Joe’s achievement and we wish him the very best with this extraordinary accomplishment.” Joe, who lives in Ryan Road in Wemyss Bay, is now looking forward to the trip, which is from 25 October to 2 November.