Russian cosmonauts greet Koodankulam kids from ISS

The cosmonauts, Oleg Artemyev and Anton Shkaplerov, addressed the students of Atomic Energy Central School, Koodankulam in Tirunelveli district on April 12, a media release from Rosatom, a Russian firm involved in the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant Project (KKNPP) said. 

“Out of more than 12,000 letters, their (students) letter was chosen to be replied and the cosmonauts sent their greetings,” Rosatom said. 

An accompanying video showed the astronauts displaying a picture taken by the children with Mikhail Kornienko, a Russian space pilot, during his visit to the school last year. He had earlier served in the ISS. 

Artemyev was seen saying in the video that they had received a lot of letters and congratulations on the International Cosmonauts Day. 

“One of those letters was unique. It was full of warmth and love and we could not resist ourselves from replying. The letter is written by school children from a village called Kundakulam in South India who study at Atomic Central School,” he said. 

The International Space Station is a space station in low Earth orbit.