Croatian pupils mark EU entry with astronaut chat

A group of pupils at a Zagreb high school on Wednesday marked their country's July 1 entry into the European Union by talking to an astronaut at the International Space Station (ISS).

Twenty-eight pupils at the Rudjer Boskovic technical high school who had been given basic radio training submitted questions to Luca Parmitano, an Italian astronaut with the European Space agency currently aboard on the ISS, national television HRT reported.

"This is our contribution to celebrations of Croatia's EU entry," the school said in a statement.

The thirteen-minute long discussion between Parmitano and the pupils was broadcast live on the Internet.

The event was part of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) project which organises scheduled contacts through amateur radio between astronauts aboard the ISS and school pupils, in association with several space agencies.

© 2013 AFP