Children ask ISS astronaut about games, skills and breaking things

If you got a chance to speak to an astronaut in space, what would you ask them?

Well, a group of pupils from northern Scotland were lucky enough to put their questions to Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk on Thursday, as part of an historic event.

The students took part in the first direct amateur radio contact between Scotland and the International Space Station.

Children between the age of five and 17 had been preparing for the huge moment for months, and were able to speak live to the ISS from Wick High School in Caithness.

Here are some of the questions and answers from the historic transmission.

Rory asked, "What do movies always get wrong about space?"

Test pilot and astronaut Kutryk replied: "How easy everything is! Everything is hard - even brushing your teeth."

Charlie wanted to know, "What do astronauts do if they have to go outside the ISS?"

He was told the team were actually getting ready to do just that "in a couple of weeks" and the main reason was to fix things on the outside, "much like you would call someone to fix a cooler or heating system on your house!"

A question asked by Jude, one of the youngest pupils, was "what skills do you need to become an astronaut?"

Joshua said fitness and health were two of the most important factors in going to space, but alongside that, finding an operational skill that you love doing and that you are good at is key.

"For me that was flying. But find what your thing is and go after it", Joshua added.

One student asked, "what games astronauts played in space?"

"We have a deck of cards up here and we play the same games you would play on Earth", Joshua said.

Kytryk also revealed that astronauts accidentally break things "all the time" on the ISS but they try and keep it to the "little things!"