BOZEMAN – Anyone that has ever dreamed of being an astronaut will certainly be jealous of what some Bozeman High students got to experience today.
Thanks to Astronomers Without Borders, the students were able to learn from and talk to astronauts on the International Space Station — in real time.
For the first time in history, Bozeman students were connected with Russian students and Russian astronauts from the ISS.
"It was really cool to talk to an actual astronaut while he was in space," said Bozeman High freshman Hayden Moran.
It was this reaction from students that made Lynn Powers, a member of the Southwest Astronomers Without Borders program, accept the invitation from the program to host one of the first ever space lessons.
Space lessons were produced by Russian company RT360. The lessons started just in Russian schools, but the company felt like they could do more.
"It is a great example of what we can achieve together," said Eduard Chizhikov, who works for RT360.
Besides talking to the astronauts, Bozeman students were able to ask Russian students questions and see them perform experiments.
"It was really cool to see what they were doing and to see what their classroom looked like and their home experiments. That was really cool," said Moran.
After the space lesson, students got to use virtual reality to see for themselves what it would be like living on the International Space Station.
"It’s so cool there are astronauts over here and then the earth just sitting there," said sophomore Alex Thomas.
The only other US school to be a part of the space lesson was in South Carolina.
To learn more about Astronomers Without Borders, click here.
