TWO Russian spacemen have visited Darlington to share the secrets of space travel and exploration with students.

Cosmonaut Alexandre Alexandrov gave a talk at Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College about the excitement of his missions and living in orbit.

His first out-of-this-world experience was in 1983 as a flight engineer on Soyuz 9, which docked with the Salyut 7 space station.

He spent 149 days on the station, during which time he had two walks in space. His second mission in 1987 took him to the Mir Space Station, where he worked for 160 days.

Mr Alexandrov was accompanied to the college by Alexandre Martynov, an academic who was responsible for landing space vehicles on the surfaces of the moon, Mars and Venus.

He works at Starcity, the Russian base for cosmonaut training and space projects, and is involved in the co-ordination of international missions.

The two visitors enthralled their audience of 200 A-level physics, science and general studies students.

John Charney, head of physics at the college, said: "It was a fascinating presentation and a wonderful opportunity for students to hear a first-hand account of life in space."

The visit was part of a week-long series of events in the Tees Valley, with the experts giving talks at 21 schools and colleges, as well as three lectures at Durham University.