YOUNG pupils have strengthened their unique bond with NASA in the wake of the space shuttle tragedy.

Children at Salesbury CE Primary School hoisted the Stars and Stripes and said prayers as they tried to come to terms with the loss of seven astronauts who perished when the space shuttle Columbia burned up over Texas.

A tea towel designed and produced by youngsters at Salesbury CE Primary School was on board the doomed space shuttle on February 1.

It was the first in space, thanks to American exchange teacher Marilyn Brothers, who had spent time in the Ribble Valley in 2001.

The 47-year-old, of El Dorado, Texas, taught at the school as part of a trans-Atlantic exchange programme organised by the Fulbright Educational Foundation.

She swapped places with teacher Helen Campbell, 28, of Dukes Brow, Revidge, Blackburn, who stepped in at Benton Grade School, Benton, Kansas.

Marilyn was close friends with NASA astronaut David Brown, who commanded the stricken flight and had offered to take something from the pupils with him into space. She witnessed the launch of flight Columbia STS 107 from Cape Canaveral and e-mailed pictures of it to the youngsters.

Today Helen, who was in America on the day of the attack on the World Trade Centre, said the children were shocked by the shuttle disaster. "Some of them became very close to Marilyn and have sent her e-mails and messages of support.

"She was good friends with David Brown and watched the launch of the shuttle. She was very upset when it came down. We hoisted the Stars and Stripes on the school flagpole and gathered around it and said prayers in the days after the crash.

"The children are maintaining their links with America, by having penpals at the school where Marilyn teaches.

"I was in America on the day of the attack on the World Trade Centre and, all in all, it was quite an eventful exchange."

US forensic experts are still examining the remains of the shuttle which exploded 39 miles above Earth.