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The astronaut spent months trapped in one place, his wits and resolve pushed to their very limits. Every day, he had to be at the top of his game, for he knew that the second he lost control, there would be no coming back.
It must have been one of Major Tim Peake’s toughest missions to date – and certainly not one he had signed up for.
What was it? Homeschooling.
Forget five months on the International Space Station.
As many a parent will attest, teaching two young boys during lockdown is what you really call a lifechanging experience.
“I actually think life during lockdown at home was more stressful than being on the space station,” laughs Major Tim.
“We had two young boys of different age groups, doing different things and you have to keep on top of all that.
“Space station life is much more structured.”
Major Tim – or more conveniently Tim, as he is happy to be called, is joking, of course.
Well, for the most part. Certainly, there was an ironic similarity between living in the confined quarters of the £100billion ISS, 400km above Earth, and spending much of his first year back in the UK locked in his rented home near Guildford, Surrey.
But it was also the first time in years for the family to be together with no chance of being called away to NASA in Houston, Texas, or Russia’s Star City.
So homeschooling aside, 48-year-old Tim has been “cherishing” his uninterrupted days with soldier- turnedteacher wife Rebecca, 47, and sons Oliver, 12, and Thomas, eight.
Not that he’s forgotten the risk he took of losing them.
A Mars mission? Maybe when boys are at uni
TIM ON HIS HUNGER FOR FURTHER ADVENTURE
On December 15, 2015, he climbed into the Soyuz Capsule in Kazakhstan, the first British astronaut to go to ISS with the European Space Agency, and waited to be propelled into space at 25 times the speed of sound by a ninemillion-horsepower rocket.
He’s all too aware – albeit in an unflappable military hero fashion – of how close he really came to being lost in space. A glitch meant the Russian commander, Yuri Malenchenko, had to manually guide the Soyuz into the ISS’s docking bay, with only a limited view through a periscope.
A fraction off could cause potentially lethal damage to the ISS or send them tumbling off into the black abyss.
“It was the feeling of helplessness. He was struggling but we couldn’t help,” recalls Tim. “We could hear a lot of talk from Moscow Mission Control. But it was all on him.”
Yuri made it on the third attempt, despite a screeching alarm sounding in the capsule. It was extremely close to catastrophe. “We were a
little bit oblivious as to how close it was,” Tim now admits. “It was only afterwards when we saw the video that I really thought, ‘ Wow, that was...’” Extremely terrifying, maybe? Apparently not terrifying enough to stop him being the first Brit to spacewalk – and taking the opportunity to float in space, secured only by a tether.
“I put a lot of trust in that tether,” he laughs. “But it was otherworldly. You’re looking at this incredible view of the earth. And you’re just floating there with nothing but a visor between you and...
everything. It’s quite unbelievable.” It is even more unbelievable when Tim tells me his one and only fear.
“What is funny is that I get a little bit scared of heights, which is crazy to think,” he says.
This is the same man whose duty on re-entry is to be ready, should systems fail, to mentally calculate how long, to the exact second, they should fire the thrusters for to make
it through the atmosphere.
An impressive responsibility for someone who got a D in A-level maths...
Fortunately, Tim’s unluckiest day on the mission was not deadly, just an assault on the senses – as a fellow crew member accidentally kicked the top off the toilet waste container, leaving them stewing in an all-consuming stench for 24 hours.
Tim’s been taking his trip down memory lane while writing his autobiography, Limitless. He vividly remembers watching the 1985 Challenger disaster on live TV as a teen. So he wanted to leave something for his family if the worst did happen.
Tim says: “You know there’s an element of risk, that things can go wrong, but you don’t focus on what you can’t control. I think you kind of make your peace with that before you even sit on top of the rocket. Rebecca and I talked about the will and all the
finances, so she knew absolutely everything. So subconsciously, we had made sure we had contingency plans in place if I wasn’t going to come back.”
Oliver was eight and Thomas four - so he decided to write them letters.
“Fortunately, they never had to see those,” Tim says. “They were about life lessons, how proud I was of them, messages that I hope would have helped them through their years growing up. People have questioned if you should be taking such a risk as a pare or if it’s selfish.
“It is difficult. But we need people pushing the boundaries, whether it’s as a test pilot or exploration.
“And if I expect people to do it, then I need to be prepared to do it myself.
“I also think it’s important, as a father, to be true to my sons, about who I am as a person.”
On a sabbatical from the European Space Agency and having moved back here last autumn from Germany, Tim is keeping his feet firmly on the ground – until the boys are older.
et he has big hopes for his next flight, as NASA will be returning to the moon in 2024 – then hopefully taking Europeans in the second or third wave of missions.
“Ask any astronaut what they would feel about going to the moon,” he says. “It would be an incredible mission.”
And what about a little further afield – say, the Red Planet? “I wouldn’t contemplate a Mars mission until my boys are older because that would be three years at least. That’s an awful long time. But certainly, once they’re off to university....” It will not be news to Rebecca, who thrives on their exciting life as much as Tim does.
The Chichester-born son of a journalist fell in love with flying as a child.
He shone as an Army cadet, gaining a place on the Officer’s Training Course at Sandhurst. By 19, he was leading patrols in Northern Ireland, being shot at and only escaping a roadside bomb because it was faulty.
Soon, he was flying helicopters in the Army Air Corps and had posts in Germany, Bosnia and Kenya.
Tim and Rebecca met in 1997 when they were both in Germany. She was in the Royal Logistic Corps and had just arrived as he was about to leave. But they both felt the instant attraction. In their first two years of dating they saw each other for “about month in total” as their postings always kept them apart. But when Tim was offered a posting to Fort Hood, Texas, they took the leap to marry – and she relocated with him, changing careers to teaching.
Tim became an expert in
Apache helicopters, a job that would lead to him chasing drug barons on the Mexican border and sent on a secret mission to Afghanistan, before becoming an instructor in the UK – then a military test pilot. Then, Rebecca saw the job advert for the ESA and suggested Tim go for it.
Tim trained in the Russian wilderness, the famous zero G “vomit rocket”, deep down in caves and in NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations – the space agency’s pressurised cabin on the Florida seabed. Its toilet facilities consisted of a hole in the wall and Tim became no stranger to a bite on the rear from a triggerfish.
“I’ve not come across anything as bad as the toilets at NEEMO,” he laughs. “You’re surrounded by marine life which is extremely interested in what’s about to emerge. It’s horrible!” You wonder if Tim shared this story when he returned from space to an invitation to stay at Windsor Castle – where he swapped helicopter stories with “fun, warm and friendly” Prince Philip.
Yet it’s not just royals he’s in demand with.
“I had an approach from I’m a Celeb and one from Strictly as well,” admits Tim. “My wife would love me to go on Strictly but I wouldn’t subject the nation to my dancing skills! The Bushtucker trials would be fun. But at the moment those shows are not for me.” Instead, Tim is hoping to continue inspiring young people.
“I left school with a C, D, and E in my Physics, Maths and Chemistry A-levels but you can always apply yourself and follow your dreams,” he says. “The greatest thing I’ve gained is the ability to keep perspective.”
Space certainly gave Tim fresh perspective on one issue – the environment. He says: “Looking down on Earth, you just see this tiny strip of this beautiful prism of light and you realise that’s all the atmosphere our Earth has managed to cling on to – and that’s what keeps us alive.
“On Earth, you look up at the sky and think it’s limitless but it’s so thin.”
As I speak to Tim, his stay in space – and London Marathon on the ISS treadmill – has just been voted the 8th best space achievement (according to Disney Plus). He’s pretty tickled.
“One below the Hubble Telescope? I think that’s fair,” he laughs.
Disney will also be impressed with his answer to one of the biggest questions faced by any astronaut.
It’s the one which really divides opinion. No, not Brexit – Star Wars or Star Trek? “Star Wars,” says Tim. “My favourite’s The Empire Strikes Back because I remember seeing it in the cinema with my dad.”
It’s quite the compliment, considering where he watched The Force Awakens. You guessed it – about 400km above the rest of us.
Limitless by Tim Peake is published by Century, priced at £20, on October 15. You can also see Tim talk live from the Science Museum on October 15 in a virtual event. Visit eventbrite. co. uk for tickets.