ASTRONAUT Tim Peake has been in radio communication with pupils from four Powys high schools.

More than 200 people attended Builth Wells High School on Saturday as eight pupils from the secondary as well as two from Gwernyfed High School spoke with Britain’s first "official" astronaut.

Pupils from Brecon and Crickhowell high schools also attended the event as well as a training day at the school on Friday ahead of the communication via amateur radio.

Adam Toffarides, the chairman of the Brecon and Radnor Amateur Radio Society, which had organised the event with ARISS, the body responsible for amateur radio on the international space station, said contact had to be made as Major Tim travelled above Wales.

Builth High School pupil Caitlin Evans asked the astronaut what training he had to undertake ahead of his space mission.

He told her he had to go through six years of training to prepare for the space mission and carries out two hours of exercise a day now he is in space.

Pupils asked various questions about the scientific experiments he has been carrying out on board and even about how he’d watched the Six Nations rugby tournament from space.