To the students gathered for a live chat with Indian American astronaut Sunita Williams, it was extremely exciting to view her as she spoke from her zero-gravity home among the stars, her hair flying upwards and necklace floating loosely, a scientific fact they had only read about in books before.

It was equally thrilling to be able to see and speak with three astronauts at the same platform - Sunita and fellow astronaut Michael Lopez-Algeria, both in the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting more than 400 km above Earth, and India's first astronaut Rakesh Sharma, who was present at the American Centre here where the event was held Wednesday night.

There were nearly 60 students, some from far off Kolkata, Patiala and Chandigarh, who had come to interact with the astronauts.

"I am very happy. We saw space live. I just cannot explain the experience," said Mayank Gureja, a student of Amity International School here.

"We could not have asked for more. We saw three astronauts on one platform. While Rakesh Sharma was present actually among us, the other two were present virtually through the satellite communication," added Gureja, his eyes shining with excitement.

Sunita interacted with the Indian students and media persons for 10 minutes, answering their queries through a satellite phone connected at the American Centre.

Leela, a student of Vivek High School, Chandigarh, was happy to be present. "Though I could not ask any question, I was happy to see three astronauts," she said.