https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tim-peake-10-year-anniversary-36363949
EXCLUSIVE: Astronaut Tim Peake - 'We could travel London to Sydney in 45 minutes via space'
04:00, 08 Dec 2025
Performing a clumsy but weightless backwards somersault, astronaut Major Tim Peake declared with undisguised glee that life in orbit was “absolutely spectacular.”
The first Brit to visit the International Space Station and complete a spacewalk, through him we could all vicariously live out our dreams of becoming astronauts.
A decade later, now 53, he’s lost none of the boyish enthusiasm that won our hearts, telling The Mirror: “The extraordinary view of the planet earth is probably by far the most special thing about being in space.
It’s awe inspiring, seeing the Milky Way rise - 200 billion stars of our own galaxy that’s incredibly special as well.”
Next Monday at 11.03am - marking the exact moment 10 years ago on December 15 2015 that Tim blasted into space - a mass paper rocket launch will be staged at London’s Science Museum.
Schools across the UK will also be invited to join in a lesson with Tim, broadcast live from the museum, following a day of free activities hosted there by the astronaut on Sunday.
Tim says: “There will be explosive live shows and kids can learn how to send a rocket up into space.”
The first astronaut to run the equivalent of the London Marathon in space, Tim recalls blasting off from the launch site in Kazakhstan as if it was yesterday.
Waving to the throngs of people who had gathered for the launch, he walked side by side with Russian commander Yuri Malenchko and American NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, before they stepped inside the Soyuz rocket.
But, as the hatch door closed, they were plunged into silence. “There was a real switch going from all that buzz and activity to going up inside the rocket,” says Tim.
“Inside the capsule, when the hatch closes - that’s the moment when everything shifts. It’s just three people crammed in like sardines in a tin waiting for the blue touchpaper to light.
That’s the time when you shut everything else out and you just focus on what you’ve been training for, for so many years.”
Inside the Soyuz there’s the descent module for launch and re-entry, and the orbital module - a cramped, bell-shaped capsule, providing tightly seated living space for the crew.
It took six hours for the 7 tonne Soyuz to reach the 400 tonne Space Station, arriving at 5.33pm.
But the astronauts didn’t open the hatch until 7.58pm. Only once they were sure the connection between the two crafts was airtight, did they enter the Space Station, which would become Tim’s home for the next six months.
Orbiting the earth presented Tim - who lives in Chichester with his wife Rebecca, 51, and their sons Thomas, 16, and Oliver, 14 - with a treasure chest of unearthly delights.
His most memorable was undoubtedly the space walk. “I’ll never forget it,” he says. "It's one thing to dock in space, which is like a moment out of Moonraker, but it’s another to put on a space suit and go outside.
The feeling of danger is palpable. You’re in this environment you’re not supposed to be in - but it’s also incredibly beautiful, peaceful and tranquil being surrounded by the universe.
To be out there floating around in space is the most special experience ever. Being in space taught me that this planet is the most beautiful planet I've ever seen, and set in the backdrop of the infinite universe it makes you realise we need to look after it.”
Taking part in more than 250 scientific experiments during his mission, he also engaged 2 million schoolchildren across Europe in at least 30 projects.
Now retired, but still an ambassador for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematic (STEM) he is passionate about inspiring the next generation of explorers, engineers and scientists.
Running the London Marathon strapped to the Space Station’s treadmill by a bungee cord attached to a harness, so he didn’t float away, was another intergalactic feat.
He completed the virtual course - in support of The Prince’s Trust (now The King’s Trust) - in 3 hours, 35 minutes and 21 seconds, while watching fellow runners pound the London streets below him via video link.
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