Peake’s career may hit new heights with Moon mission

TIM PEAKE has thrown his hat into the ring to be the first Briton to walk on the Moon after Nasa hinted at the possibility this week.

Peake is the only official British astronaut to go to the International Space Station and do a space walk. He spent 186 days on the ISS after launching atop a Soyuz rocket in December 2015 with a Russian and an American.

Chichester-born Peake, 50, spent 18 years in the Army flying helicopters before becoming an astronaut, and told Bluedot Festival about the rigours of his European Space Agency training.

Peake said: “I’d love to do another spacewalk. [It was] absolutely fantastic. I would love to go to the Moon.”

It comes less than a week after Nasa hinted the next Moon mission may feature a Briton. Nasa officials flew in for discussions with the UK Space Agency earlier this week.

Col Pam Melroy, deputy administrator of Nasa, said Britain was already helping with establishing lunar communications but talks were under way for greater participation.