Schoolkids in Limerick make history with live video call to astronaut on International Space Station

Three hundred pupils from Limerick, Tipperary, and Kildare, joined other young people from Romania and Portugal in a three-way country video-link with French astronaut Thomas Pesquet.

The once-in-a-lifetime close encounter took place at the Millennium Theatre at Limerick Institute of Technology.

Pesquet who is currently on a six-month mission to the ISS, and serving as a flight engineer for Expeditions 50 and 51, launched into space in November 2016 and is due to return to Earth next May. He previously worked as an aerospace engineer, and is also an airline pilot for Air France.

Gearoid O'Donoghue, fifth class teacher at Scoil Idé, Corbally, Limerick, was left star struck after asking the French spaceman a question about navigation in the cosmos.

"I was very nervous to be honest, and I didn't think I would be, but I couldn't help it. It was a great opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime thing to get to speak to the space station.," he said.

"It was great for the kids to be here as well, they all had a great time planning and making posters and researching the entire project," he added.

Fifth class pupil, Sophie Duggan, aged 10, from Corbally described it as "a great experience". "Yeah, I'd like to be an astronaut," she beamed.

Fellow pupil, 11-year-old Sean Kinehan, said: "I thought it was amazing; you don't get to speak to an astronaut everyday. I just thought it was crazy seeing him floating about and I feel so lucky to have been here sitting on my seat."

Asked what he would do if he got to space, he replied: "Hopefully I'll try to make the world better."

Loretta O'Connor, science coordinator at Mary Queen of Ireland Girls School, Caherdavin, joked all her class were worried about "is their test on this Friday".

Rebecca McKevitt, aged 11, from Limerick said it was "exciting". She added: "If I got to space I'd figure out how to go to Mars and live there."

Nojus Popovas, aged 11, originally from Lithuania, who attends Scoil Phadraig, Clane, Co Kildare, was left in awe: "I can't believe I was actually seeing Thomas Presquet, because not a lot of people get this type of opportunity; it was excellent."

Amy Walsh, aged 11, from Limerick said her space trip was "absolutely fabulous".

She remained undecided however, about ever traveling to space for real.

"I don't know if I would actually take the risk to go to space; I think it's dangerous. The big risk of going up there is something could go wrong, something could explode," she added.

Fellow classmate, Angela Kinsella, aged 11, was more confident of shooting for the stars.

"I'd love to be the first Irish woman to go to space. It would be so amazing."

And, once there, what would her first important task be?

"Well...my first thing would be to just float all the time," she joked.

In 2008, a similar event took place involving a group of Irish people who contacted a US astronaut at the ISS, but the technology wasn't as good then and they had to speak on the phone.

"This was the first time we have had people do a live video call with a European astronaut and the technology was so much better this time around," said a spokesperson.