Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Starry-eyed Breadalbane pupils talk to astronaut Kevin Ford

Kevin Ford waving farewell before boarding a Soyuz rocket to fly to the International Space Station on last October.
Kevin Ford waving farewell before boarding a Soyuz rocket to fly to the International Space Station on last October.

Pupils at a Highland Perthshire school could have been accused of having their heads in the clouds recently.

A group of 16 from Breadalbane Academy were given the rare opportunity to speak live to an astronaut on the International Space Station.

Their questions were relayed from Aberfeldy to outer space, via the NASA ground station in California.

The youngsters, aged between 10 and 17, spoke with Commander Kevin Ford, who is serving as lead astronaut on the habitable satellite.

They discussed a wide range of subjects, which had been prepared months in advance and included fashion, textiles and physics.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=9De4BpIZDg4%3Frel%3D0

Commander Ford also answered questions on how he keeps fit on board and revealed that, during their conversation, the satellite had passed over the entire continent of America.

Science teacher Graham Armstrong said: “After the event, all the pupils were amazed that they had been talking to an actual astronaut serving in space.

“The contact was arranged through the ARISS scheme, which provides amateur radio contact between schools and NASA contacts, such as the International Space Station.

“Although this scheme has been running for many years, Breadalbane Academy is only the second Scottish school ever to be selected to make contact, something everyone involved at the school is very proud of,” he added.