Britain’s first astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Major Tim Peake, was the special guest at Liverpool World Museum’s Cosmic Classroom.

Ground control made up of school children from the North West and North Wales called Major Tim who discussed his time on the ISS so far and showed off the fun of a weightless environment.

Hosted by former NASA doctor, Kevin Fong, 300 children participated in the event yesterday [2 February] organised by TES Global, the UK Space Agency and the European Space Agency (ESA).

Watch the entire Cosmic Classroom above; see more videos of Major Tim at NASA

Jon Marrow, senior education manager, says: “Tim Peake’s call to World Museum made for a thrilling day.

“More than 300 children won the chance to witness it live at the museum but around the country thousands more were watching in their classrooms.

“The children were thoroughly absorbed and there were gasps and laughter as Tim performed acrobatics and experiments which showed the effects of zero gravity.

“For everyone involved it is something they will remember for the rest of their lives.”

Major Peake will remain on board the ISS until June on his ‘Principia’ mission which involves education, new experiments and last month included the first official British spacewalk, or EVA, to repair a failed voltage regulator but ended early when Tim Kopra reported water inside his helmet.

One of the questions asked during the Cosmic Classroom was: “What can you see out of the windows?”

Major Peake replied: “I have got a window right behind me – let me go take a look,” as he turned and floated away to the amusement of the children to look out of the window.

When he returned he added: “At the moment we are in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean coming up to the coast of Africa with the beautiful colours of the Sahara Desert.”

To boost the impact of the mission, the Major Peake has been producing videos showing the difference between basic tasks done on Earth compared to a zero gravity environment. (see the ESA YouTube channel for more)

As part of the mission, the World Museum was one of 20 centres selected from across the UK to host the Destination Space education programme.

Jon says: “Thousands of school children and visitors have been engaging in space-related activities here at World Museum over recent months as part of the Destination Space education programme.”

To follow Major Peake’s mission visit @astro_timpeake on Twitter and Tim Peake on Flickr & Facebook

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