A PROJECT to put Callington on the map with the building of a space centre at Callington Community College receives its official launch next Monday, March 25.

The planned centre will be open to the public and will include a learning laboratory, a state-of-the-art telescope and robotics centre and will be the first of its kind in Europe. A satellite down-link station will allow the tracking of and access to satellite data as well as giving the college live broadcasts from NASA on all of its missions to space.

Anyone interested in being a part of the project is invited to the launch at the college at 7pm, or should contact Mike Grocott on 01579 383292.

Linking to the launch, on Tuesday, March 26, there is the chance to hear two Russian cosmonauts at the college at 7.30pm.

Colonel Alexandre Volkov, who logged more than a year aboard the Mir space station and is the present commander of the cosmonauts team, and Dr Alexandre Matynov, former head of the ballistic department at Russian Mission Control Centre, will be talking about their experiences in space.

Admission will be £2.50 for adults in advance or £3 on the door, with concessions available.