He may have been the first British astronaut to perform a spacewalk, but Tim Peake admits he is jealous of Perth-born movie star Ewan McGregor.
“I am just watching Long Way Home with him and Charley Boorman. I am green with envy every time I watch an episode of them going around Scandinavia on motorbikes. That would be the most remarkable trip.
“There are still places on my bucket list I would like to go to. I’d love to go to the icefields of southern Patagonia; it looks so beautiful from space.”
In the meantime, he is looking forward to a return to Scotland with the latest leg of his ‘Astronauts: The Quest to Explore Space’, which is back by popular demand.
Tim Peake is a British astronaut and retired military officer. He became the first official British astronaut to walk in space while on a mission to the International Space Station in 2016.
Tim Peake’s family connections to Perthshire and Fife
Scotland is dear to him. It is where he married Rebecca, his Perthshire-born wife of 25 years with whom he shares sons Thomas, 16, and Oliver, 13.
“I am really excited to be going back for this tour,” the 52-year-old said. “We normally get to spend a couple of months a year in Scotland as a family. We love the Crieff area – which is where Rebecca’s family are from.
Aviemore and the Cairngorms are also favourites.
“Last year, we had a great trip to the north-west coast, Achiltibuie and the Summer Isles. It’s beautiful and there are great night skies.”
The Peakes recently celebrated their silver wedding anniversary. That sparked cherished memories of the big day itself in beautiful St Andrews.
“We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary on April 8. It seems incredible.
“It was a really fun, happy day. Because Rebecca studied at St Andrews University she was entitled to get married in the chapel there.
“It was a wonderful day. Lots of our military friends and family were there and we had great weather for April.”
How Tim went from St Andrews to the stars
Tim was over the moon – but could he have imagined that 15 years later, he’d literally be reaching the stars?”
“Not at all,” he grinned.
“What was quite funny was when we got married, I was posted to Texas, so we were living not far from Houston. I did visit the Space Centre there not realising at the time that in my future that was going to be very close to me.”
Tim stepped down from the astronaut corps in 2023. He is now an ambassador for the European Space Agency (ESA) with the aim of becoming the first Briton to fly to space twice.
If he returns to the International Space Station (ISS), it would be the first-ever all-British mission. It comes after ESA last year struck a deal with Axiom – a Texan space infrastructure company.
What does Rebecca, 51, make of his decision to go back into space?
“She can’t wait to get rid of me,” he jokes.
I spoke to Tim from the home he shares with Rebecca in West Sussex. Tim is a former Army major and test pilot who met her in Germany while both were serving in the military.
“I have been so lucky. My family have always been very supportive. They are very happy that I have the opportunity to go on another mission.”
What will Tim Peake do during his next mission?
All going well, Tim’s next mission will be out of this world too.
That could include everything from ‘growing’ human hearts in space for transplant on earth to crystallising proteins to help make possible new and better versions of existing drugs to treat conditions like muscular dystrophy and cancer.
Tim, who is strategic adviser to Axiom and likely to command the expedition, explained: “We are aiming for an all-British mission and fully commercially sponsored, which has never been done before.
“That means one of the private astronaut missions coming up in the next couple of years.
“We will be taking up scientific payloads, which will be really exciting for the UK’s scientific community, and we are planning a huge outreach programme around that mission.”
Printing human hearts in space?
It is well primed to deliver results.
“We have been studying the human body in space since the very earliest days of space travel.
“We have learned so much about the ageing process, because (in space) our body goes through a rapidly ageing process; our skin changes, immune system, cardiovascular and even eyesight.”
“On a daily basis we would be doing blood draws and scans on the Space Station and tonometry for eye pressure.
“But now we have taken it to a different level because we are thinking about what we could we do for the mass population in terms of making organs in space with technology that uses bio ink and 3D printers.
“Printing a human heart in space, for example, isn’t that far-fetched.”
And there are other growth areas too.
He said: “The new space economy is booming. It is a huge growth area and there are many companies that perhaps haven’t thought about space before that are now looking with interest.”
Does Tim Peake wish he was going to the moon?
Although not part of it, he is thrilled about the Artemis III mission to the moon and, in the future, to Mars.
“The Artemis missions are coming up rapidly. Next year on SLS 2 four of my friends will go around the moon, a bit like Apollo 8 did in 1968.
“I can’t wait for that for the fact that whole generations who didn’t get to see the moon landings first time round will be watching this.
“And then Mars will be an incredible mission in 2030s – you are going from 400,000 kilometres to the moon, to 400 million kilometres to Mars.
“It is going to take an incredible bunch of astronauts.”
But it’s time to be a dad first, astronaut second
He will not be among those astronauts.
“There is a time in everybody’s life when that kind of commitment is acceptable, but I think that as a father of young boys going through exams, that is not the time to embark on a three-year mission.
“But if they will still let me fly in the mid-2030s I will have my hand in the air for that one!”
And what of his boys, who like their dad love to explore Highland Perthshire – would he like them to follow in his space steps?
“Rebecca and I are trying to keep their opportunities open, as any parent does,” he said.
“We are trying to broaden their horizons and expose them to as many different opportunities as possible, but we’ll let them make their own choice.
Tim Peake’s Astronauts: The Quest To Explore Space tour will be at Inverness’s Eden Court, Aberdeen’s Music Hall and Dunfermline’s Alhambra Theatre, September 1-4.
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