Tim Peake: Spaceman

Now on BBC News, the British astronaut Tim Peake has been

I've had a chance to look back at some of the photographs

and the select on the mission, and it was a truly

Several highlights, just arrival on the space station and suddenly

floating through to this area that was really familiar.

The space walk was definitely probably the greatest highlight.

Glad to see you both up there together on the tip

Tim, welcome back. Thank you.

How does it feel to be back? Was it everything you hoped for?

It was everything and more, definitely.

The space station is a remarkable place to live and work.

Always being challenged, you are never bored,

Tim Peake is Britain's first publicly funded astronaut.

For just over six months, he was a crew member on board

Carrying out experiments in microgravity.

And inspiring the next generation of scientists.

All while travelling at 17,000 miles an hour

Thank you, European Space Agency and TES.

We are now resuming operational audio communications.

When you first get up into space, you are looking down

and you are just trying to work out where you are and try to get used

I caught up with Tim at the European Astronaut Centre

in Cologne, Germany, where he completed

And he showed me around a replica space station module,

similar to where he had lived and worked.

I can't imagine that you are going to be able

Just arrival on the space station and suddenly floating

through to this area that feels really familiar because you have

trained for so long in modules that are so accurate.

But to be floating around in this place and then to go to the first

view of planet Earth on board the space station.

The space walk was evidently probably the greatest highlight.

But also things like capturing the Dragon spacecraft,

the visiting vehicle that I had to capture.

That was really a very demanding moment.

So, I was really very happy to do that.

Was there ever a moment when you thought,

I just want to go home? I want to come back early?

In fact, the mission got extended once while we were up there.

We were extended for a further two weeks and towards the end

of the mission, there was the potential that we were going

to get extended again for a further two weeks because of the delays

And on both occasions, myself and the other crew

What was the biggest challenge for you?

For me, I would have thought, actually, not being able to touch

grass, or go out and feel the sun on my face.

What was the biggest challenge for you up there?

The biggest challenge is actually just being a good crew member,

and that means managing your time, being efficient, making sure that

You might be working for 30 minutes one morning on some small experiment

but there are hundreds of people, that is their experiment,

and they have spent hours and hours and hours, and it is

So, it might just be 30 minutes but you cannot afford

The biggest challenge is really just being on top of your game

Thankfully, I didn't make any mistakes that damaged science so,

Was that strange seeing your family and friends for the first time?

Because you had been away and whenever it you are a out

of your natural environment, you learn to be independent

and do different things and almost put them in a box,

What is it like reintegrating with The Family?

You know, it has been remarkably easy.

I think part of that is because I have had such great

contact with my family whilst I was on board the space station.

Once a week, I would have a video conference with them.

And I was able to phone my wife whenever I wanted to.

You feel very close connection, anyway, to the family.

Of course, especially with two young children,

reintegrating hike in, it takes a little bit of a while,

Does Daddy rule the nest? With the kids?

I don't think Daddy has ever ruled the nest back home.

It is definitely great to be back as a family.

And are you back in the routine of putting the trash out, etc?

Right from the word go, yes. So, no special treatment at home?

You are just daddy and husband? Absolutely, yeah.

What did you learn about yourself that surprised you,

being on the International Space Station for six months?

I'm not sure I've really learned anything new about myself.

I think partly because of what we go through in preparation

for the mission, and of course, our previous careers.

It is a wonderful opportunity to get into space, it is a unique

perspective to look down on the Earth, but, really,

I think in terms of my character and my personality, I don't think it

Tim was chosen from more than 8,000 applicants for the job.

He had responded to an ad posted by the European Space

I've primarily been flying the Apache helicopter

for ten years and I've got about over 3000 hours.

At the time, he was a test pilot for a helicopter

firm and before that, he had spent 18 years

in the military, mostly flying helicopters.

The astronauts screening process took a year.

His intense basic training lasted another 14 months.

After that, there was more advanced training to prepare him for life

So, Tim, I've got into your sleeping den.

Yes, this is an astronaut's living quarter.

It is actually a little bit larger than the one on board.

So, this is like a king-size deluxe bedroom, is it?

We would have a couple of computers here that we would be able

to work on, photographs of friends and family.

Were there any moments you thought, that could be something different?

That could be something otherworldly?

You do see some strange things, but normally, like everything,

I saw a couple of meteors coming into Earth which is really

You don't normally see lights out in space during the daytime.

You see the stars at night but during the daytime, you don't

One time, I could see a couple of lights passing by the space

station that looked like either satellites or fast moving objects,

which was really quite strange, I had never seen that before.

So, I called one of my other crew mates over and we had a look out

Then, we realised it wasn't far away from the space station it was quite

close to the space station, and it was in fact small droplets

of liquid that were leaking out of the progress module,

and they were passing, the sunlight was reflecting

So, like I said, everything that is unusual normally has

I read that there are something like 500 films that have been played

in the International Space Station since 1998.

So, you get some downtime.

Did you watch any films like Alien or, I don't know,

Gravity, or Moon, while you were out there?

You are working very hard and it is nice to come

Also, you are working individually a lot.

So, once a week, it is nice to come together with your passion

colleagues and have a movie or have a shared meal together.

With Scott Kelly, when he was commander, when we first got

on board, he had been staving the new Star Wars for us,

so that was one of the first movies we watched.

It was great, just to make it a special evening on board

So, movie night with popcorn, which I imagine would be floating.

Of all the things to be in near zero gravity environment,

though perhaps not the ideal food.

Anything that is going to be crumbly is not good for space flight.

Breakfast this morning, scrambled eggs.

In about five minutes, it will be ready to eat.

There have been some comments about you, the ISS,

and the Nobel Peace Prize. Do you want to expand on that?

Well, the International Space Station was nominated

for the Nobel Peace Prize because of the international

cooperation for so many years, and even dating back before

the International Space Station, of course, space flight in general

was wonderful in terms of cooperation, in particular

But in terms of the International Space Station now, we have

And that has been since 1998, the first modules flew,

It has had 16 years of human occupation.

Astronauts from so many different nations all around the world

all working towards the same goal, the same science objectives,

the same exploration objectives, so I think it really is very worthy

Yes, this is the cupula, node three, and this really

It is just a wonderful place to go to take photographs or just

if you want five minutes to yourself, have a coffee

and literally look at the world go by.

You can't ask for a better view, really.

You get to the stage, you actually challenge yourself -

when you first get up into space, you are looking down

and you are kind of just trying to work out where you are and try

and orientate yourself and get used to the 16 orbits the day.

Once you've been up a couple of months, you wouldn't even need

to look at the map where you are, you look out the window

and you would be able to tell, obviously, this is Africa,

I can see right now we're over Africa, nothing

And, then, judging by where the orbits are, you would say,

we are over South America, so in 25 minutes, we

You would just kind of get used to the odd look out the window

and be able to know where you were, where over the world you were,

The country has voted to leave the European Union.

As a British astronaut, as part of the European Space Agency,

tell me how you think that might work or what you think might be

Yes, from up point of view of the European Space Agency,

the UK's participation is not affected by the EU referendum.

The European Space Agency is a separate entity so the UK

is still firmly a member of the European Space Agency.

Hopefully, we will continue to participate in the International

What we do have to be careful of, of course, is science,

which will be affected by the EU referendum.

I know there are many people involved in science in the UK

who are concerned about how that is going to be affected.

There are certainly many areas that we need to be focused

on in moving forward and try and make the best for Britain

Science experiments, you have spoken about these,

you have said you haven't made any mistakes.

This is something you were really passionate about before you went up,

and you engaged a lot of children as well,

What experiments have excited you the most?

Yes, well, all astronauts are really engaged in science because that is

We get to do other highlights like spacewalks and robotics

operations and doing a lot of maintenance,

but, really, science is the focus of our activity.

Some of the things that are really exciting and the ones

Nothing more so than the life sciences because it

You get remarkably good at being an ultrasound

Ultrasound is of the eye, of the cardiovascular

system, all the arteries and veins in your body.

We are learning an awful lot about that.

And, also, for example, airway monitoring, that was really

great experiment, looking at airway inflammation and how we can measure

that on board the space patient and how bad will benefit people

Those experiments, I think, that really relate to benefits for people

And that is a regular occurrence throughout our duration

With children being so excited about science, what you hope they

Because you interacted with lots of them, growing

certain plants and seeds. That's right.

Yes, we tried to interact with children on so many levels,

really to try and encourage then to look at science and technology,

engineering, maths, in a new light, trying to see that it can be

exciting, it can be fun, it can lead to great careers.

And, also, we need new scientists and engineers to solve

These bats are hydrophobic which means they resist the water

We can have games on a Saturday and play space ping-pong.

But, also, on a more lighter level, we were trying to use space

and the mission to excite kids to be inspired into whatever

So, that is why we included things like the mission patch design,

fitness and nutrition, so many exercises there.

You mentioned the growing rocket sees as well.

Just to try and use space to inspired kids.

Did you like science when you were a child?

I love to science and that led onto my career in aviation.

Learning about physics and learning about aviation,

And there you can see the bubble is starting to grow.

I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that you have inspired

lots of children who have been following your mission.

We went back to your primary school, Westbourne primary school,

and we filmed some of the children there,

We would like to show you how we have been learning about space.

This is a rocket that we have made in honour of you.

We call him Thin Tim because he is on paper and he has

been watching over all of our assemblies.

This is where we grew our rocket seed, some

That is brilliant. The school hasn't changed that much.

I've been inspired by him telling everyone that he wasn't

the best at school. That's very true.

That shows that we can do anything we try hard.

Is it true you can see the Great Wall of China from space?

Can you have a bath or shower in the ISS?

Wow, I can see I am going to have to get back to Westbourne primary

Great questions, though. And that is a lovely message.

Good morning, it is Saturday the 18th of June.

Also ahead, Tim Peake's six months space mission comes to an end.

In the last few hours, the British astronaut has

boarded the spacecraft that was going to bring him

On June 18th, Tim and two crewmates said their goodbyes and left

Their return journey reached speeds 25 times faster than sound.

We are just eight and a half minutes away from touchdown.

They landed in the desert in Kazakhstan.

Shortly afterwards, Tim said it was remarkable,

It has been incredible. It really has.

I'm so grateful for all the support and I thank everybody

Tell us about that journey, the actual journey in.

Actually, the undocking and the preparation for re-entry,

it is all very smooth and fairly slow, but it is really in the last

40 minutes with things really start to happen.

The main thing is that big engine burn that slows you down.

Once you have burned that engine, you are coming back to Earth,

Then, the space craft has to separate, it blows itself apart

with pyrotechnic bolts, and we are left with just

the capsule with the three of us that is going to come down.

How does that feel, it blows itself apart with para tech nicks?

If you are not ready for it, it would really

It is very loud, and it is a number of bolts going off, just

And, actually, the spacecraft rocks and you feeling get thrown aside

because it separates with some propulsion.

The capsule starts slowly tumbling and at that point,

you are simply waiting for the atmosphere to

The atmosphere then orientate the capsule in the right direction.

Anything that can burn on the outside of the

So, flames come past, and then it turns into plasma.

So, those start to burn over and brown over.

But you are expecting that, you have been told about it.

It doesn't come as too much of a surprise.

The first meal was actually on the aircraft that was bringing me

And I was delighted because they had prepared some British tea bags

for me so I had a cup of tea with a little bit of salad,

That is all you actually want because you are

So, it was really kind of simple food.

But to have that first cup of tea on the aircraft was really great.

What was it like being in your own bed?

When you went in your sleeping bag, you were and tethered.

Well, just loosely tethered but I like to be floating

Some people like to strap themselves in tightly.

I was happy more floating around. Back in your own bed...

Yes, back in your own bed, it takes awhile to get used to it.

Are feeling the pressure points very heavily.

Everything feels so heavy so you end up tossing and turning a lot more

because it is uncomfortable to be in any one spot for too long.

It only really takes three or four nights before you slot

Or have you still got an official job?

Yes, I was employed in 2009 as the European Space Agency

And that goes for all of my colleagues that I joined up with.

The 2009 class of shenanigans, my five other friends.

And, in fact, Alex Guest has already been reassigned to a separate

He will fly in 2019 and commanded the space station.

So, we all continue to be employed as astronauts.

And after I have done the post flight science objectives

and the post flight to, I will go back to being a flight

status astronaut and eligible for a further assignment, as well.

So, you would go back? Absolutely.

If the opportunity arose, but would go back either

to the International Space Station or to some of the exciting missions

We are looking at a collaboration with Nasa, the Orion project

Would you go back next month, if you could?

I would like to spend a bit more time with the family before I go

I think both your boys would appreciate that

This is where you have spent the last few weeks

Are you back up to full strength?

I feel like I am, and in fact, the muscles in my back are actually

in better condition now than they were prelaunch.

But in certain areas, it is going to take a lot longer.

And for my bone density to recover, it will probably take

You ran the marathon up in space. How was it?

It was actually not as bad as I was anticipating.

Congratulations for running the marathon.

But you never got a medal. Did you?

Well, no, I didn't actually run the London Marathon,

it was the digital version of the London Marathon.

Well, Virgin Money London Marathon thinks you did run the marathon.

May I put this on you? I will pop this down.

You do at last have a medal for running the marathon.

It is all yours. Congratulations.

Brilliant, thank you very much. Are you going to take it off today?

Brilliant. Well done.

It has been an absolute pleasure talking to you.

Thank you so much. Likewise.

Thank you, that is wonderful, thank you very much.

OK, so, yeah, I will just go into a ball

On axis? Yeah, on axis, that is cool.

Actually, it is more provocative when you go off axis.

Don't worry. Provocative is fine.

HE LAUGHS Just keep it going.

Err, yeah, that's good. THEY LAUGH

We've got warm spells of sunshine outside and this is a taster of full

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