YOUNGSTERS met an astronaut yesterday after dazzling experts with their pictures of rockets.

British astronaut Tim Peake dropped in at Hagbourne Primary School near Didcot.

Pupils won a competition to secure the visit from Mr Peake, who has been training with the European Space Agency.

About 210 youngsters aged four to 11 gathered at the school in Main Road for a question and answer session with the father-of-two, who is based in Cologne, Germany.

Mr Peake, 40, is due to work at the international space station from 2015 and next month will serve as an aquanaut aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory in Florida.

He said: “There were some great questions from the pupils and it’s lovely to see them appreciating what fun you can have with science.”

Katherine Comina, 10, from East Hagbourne, said: “I really enjoyed the visit — it’s amazing to think that Tim is training to go out into space.”

Headteacher Richard Jones said: “What a day in the life of the school — it’s not every day you get an astronaut dropping in.

“Tim’s visit also fits in very well with work we have been doing to design a moon buggy.”

The pupils beat about 140 schools from across Oxfordshire and Berkshire in the contest organised by the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Harwell.