Live from Space website offers viewers the chance to quiz an astronaut

Channel 4 viewers have the chance to get their face in space thanks to a specially-created website to run alongside the Live from Space Season.

Visitors to the site can ask a question to astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata on board the International Space Station. Selected questions will be transmitted and answered by the astronauts during Channel 4’s Live from Space: Lap of the Planet. The site, launched today (Friday 28 February) at channel4.com/space, will allow users to submit questions via a webcam or Vine video. Visitors will have until Tuesday 4th March at 3pm to submit their question and those selected will be beamed up to the ISS.

Also debuting on the website is an interactive Earth vs Astronauts game, in which players can try their hand at using a catapult in zero gravity. Based on a real game played by astronauts on the station, players will aim their target to fire through floating hoops in microgravity. The game is optimised for all web platforms include tablets and smartphones.

Visitors can find the answer to question ‘How astronaut are you?’ with an online astronaut test introduced by Britain’s first official astronaut, Tim Peake. The test assesses if users have the physical and mental attributes needed to be an astronaut on board the ISS. Users of both the astronaut test and the Earth v Astronauts game can share their high scores with friends.

Elsewhere on the site, former astronaut Chris Hadfield relives his extraordinary first spacewalk in a full-screen walkthrough experience with interactive animations. Commander Hadfield provides narration as users experience the drama faced when his mission outside the ISS went from straightforward to near-catastrophe.

The site will also feature exclusive clips from the Live from Space Season as well as biogs and updates from the astronauts, host Dermot O’Leary and the ISS itself.

Mark Atkin, multiplatform commissioning editor at Channel 4 comments “For such a groundbreaking television event, we have created one of Channel 4’s most ambitious online platforms to date. The appropriately-named Rckt, Sheffield-based digital specialists, were commissioned to build this website that will inspire people to learn more about life in space. We also worked closely with astronauts both on earth and in the ISS to bring their incredible work to life.”

Follow @spacelive on Twitter and C4SpaceLive on Facebook for more updates from the season.