MAJOR TIM PEAKE
The European Space Agency astronaut speaks to How It Works about his time on the International Space Station, life in the universe and careers in space
INTERVIEWED BY BEN BIGGS
Peake made his space debut on Expedition 46 to the ISS
© Alamy
A sa test pilot in the British Army Air Corps, Major Tim Peake’s service was star-studded. Anyone would have excused him if he had rested on his laurels when he retired in 2009, but it was only then that his career took off – literally. He became the first British person to visit the ISS in 2015 after being selected for the ESA’s astronaut training program. He was the first British person to perform a spacewalk outside the ISS, and was the first man to run a marathon in space – on a treadmill, of course.
What was your first thought as you left Earth’s atmosphere?
The first thought -I guess it’s kind of relief, that you made it safely. Not that we expected it to go wrong, but actually there are many delays and problems. The first thought as you make it into orbit is a look between the crew members to think ‘yes, we’re here. We made it’. And then it’s a look outside the window. Absolutely phenomenal, that view of Earth from space. And certainly as a rookie astronaut looking at it for the first time is amazing. The sense of speed is unbelievable during third stage, as the rocket is getting you up to 27,500 kilometres [17,088 miles] per hour – ten times the speed of a bullet. And you don’t notice that the first couple of stages in launch are all about power acceleration. It’s about 9 million horsepower, doing four gs of acceleration, so eight minutes and 48 seconds is a long launch period. But the latter stage is just about acceleration getting knocked off orbital velocity. So when you take that first look outside the window, you can’t believe how fast you’re covering the planet’s surface.