Tim Peake on his journey to becoming an astronaut and science in space

The Life Scientific

BBC

Technology, Personal Journals, Society & Culture, Science

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 31 December 2024

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What's it like living underwater for two weeks? What's the trickiest part of training to be an astronaut? What are the most memorable sights you see from space? Several extreme questions, all of which can be answered by one man: Major Tim Peake.

After a childhood packed with outdoor adventures, via the Cub Scouts and school Cadet Force, Tim joined the British Army Air Corps and became a military flying instructor then a test pilot; before eventually being selected as a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut.

In 2015, Tim became the first British ESA astronaut to visit the International Space Station. Over the course of a six-month mission, he took part in more than 250 scientific experiments and worked with more than two million schoolchildren across Europe.

In a special New Year’s episode recorded in front of an audience at London’s Royal Society, Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to Tim about his lifelong passion for adventure, the thrill of flight and why scientific experiments in space are so important.

Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Lucy Taylor

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to quickly tell you about some others.
0:05.2	My name's Andy Martin and I'm the editor of a team of podcast producers at the BBC in Northern Ireland.
0:11.3	It's a job I really love because we get to tell the stories that really matter to people here,
0:16.3	but which also resonate and apply to listeners around the world.
0:19.6	And because the team has such a diverse
0:21.2	range of skills and strengths, we have trained journalists, people who love digging through
0:26.0	archives, we've got drama and even comedy experts. We really can do those stories justice. So if
0:31.8	you like this podcast, head to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more fascinating stories
0:37.1	from all around the UK.
0:39.1	Hello and thank you for joining me here at London's Royal Society for a special end-of-the-year
0:44.2	edition of the Life Scientific. My guest today is an aeronaut, aquanaut and astronaut. He's
0:50.6	flown through the skies, lived under the sea and soared through space.
0:55.1	It sounds like something from a storybook, but this man really has done it all.
0:59.0	After childhood via the Cub Scouts and school cadet force, Timpe joined the British Army Air Corps
1:04.8	before eventually being selected from thousands of hopefuls to train as an astronaut.
1:10.2	In 2015, Tim visited the International Space Station for a six-month mission,
1:14.3	during which he became the first ever British astronaut to complete a spacewalk
1:18.4	and took part in more than 250 scientific experiments.
1:23.1	He also found time, while in orbit, to present the singer Adele with a Brit Award,
1:29.1	launched the BBC's Six Nations rugby coverage and run the London Marathon on a treadmill.
1:35.5	So much for the peace and quiet of deep space.
1:38.6	Measuret, welcome to the Life Scientific.
	...

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