PUPILS from Cirencester Kingshill School spoke to an astronaut in space at the Cheltenham Science Festival.

The trip on Wednesday, June 8, was attended by 35 year eight pupils and 15 year 10 pupils who submitted questions and took part in a live link with astronaut Tim Peake at the festival’s Space Dome.

Tim, the European Space Agency’s first British astronaut, discussed his mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in the in-flight call at 3pm.

Kingshill School was the only school to attend the press conference, which was Tim’s last before his return to Earth on Saturday, June 18.

Four students from the school asked a question each.

Year 10 pupil Hannah Slack, 15, who was chosen for the first question to start the call, asked: “Do you think it will be hard to adapt to life back on Earth after so long in space?”

Year eight pupil Maisie Tweed, 13, asked what Tim got for Christmas, to which he replied: “Hi Maisie, I think the greatest present I got for Christmas was finding out that I was going to be doing a spacewalk and really I don’t think that you can top that.

“My next big present this year of course is hopefully getting back safely a week on Saturday and seeing my family again.”

Roxy Lewington, 12, asked: “What advice would you give someone like me who wants to become an astronomer?”

Tim replied: “I think the first thing to do is to do what I’m sure you’re already doing and enjoying it as a hobby: looking up at the stars, trying to find great places to go and viewing the stars where there isn’t too much light pollution.

“If you’re passionate about things, you’ll tend to be very good at them.”

John Philips, 13, also asked the astronaut: “How do you keep fit in space?”

Teacher Theresa Clark said: “It was an exhausting but an exhilarating day. What an unbelievable opportunity for the pupils to be having, when they found out about being able to speak to Tim Peake on Monday their eyes lit up.

“This will stay with them for the rest of their lives. We need to be inspiring kids and open their eyes.

“It is important to teach them well in a classroom, but to go out and experience what they did yesterday is irreplaceable and has the potential to inspire them in their future which is what we try to achieve here at Kingshill.”

Teachers Dr Clark and Michelle Edwards added: “It was a privilege to have the opportunity to speak to Major Tim Peake in the international Space station.

“We feel we represented all secondary schools and it was a huge honour for Kingshill and our pupils.

“The Cheltenham Science Festival is a fantastic learning platform and allowed our pupils to experience a whole array of new advances in technology and engineering.

“They had the opportunity to listen to leaders in the field and ask them what they had to do to be able to have a career in this area.

“The activities allowed the pupils to get hands on and bring science to life.”

The event was hosted by television presenter Dallas Campbell and was livestreamed via NASA TV at www.nasa.gov/ntv.