The Most Relatable Astronaut

Let me tell you about an astronaut named Tim Peake. You may not have heard of him, but I think about him all the time. He’s a fellow Gen Xer with two boys of a similar age as mine, and parents around the same age as mine. I can’t relate to being an astronaut, but I can sure relate to some of the stories I saw about Tim and his family when he was in space.

After nearly 18 years in the British Army, Tim joined the European Space Agency in 2009. He beat out 8,000 other candidates in the selection process to actually become an astronaut. Then the real work began. He spent the next six years learning all the science, engineering, survival training, and dentistry (yep, dentistry) required, and even learned to speak Russian.

Finally, the big day was here.

It was launch day, December 15, 2015, around two weeks before Christmas. Tim was part of the Principia Mission to the International Space Station. He was about to become the first British astronaut to visit the ISS, where he would spend the next six months.

Tim’s wife Rebecca brought their two boys Thomas and Oliver to see him off at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan where the rocket would launch.

It was their final chance to say goodbye. Tim sat on one side of the glass partition in the press conference room, while Rebecca and the kids sat on the other side.

And in their final moments together before Dad blasted off into space, one kid was eating a microphone and the other one was playing on his phone.

The camera pans from the kids to Dad, but Dad is already being escorted out. On video, you can hear what the kids are saying:

OLIVER: I wanna talk. I wanna talk! I love you, Daddy. (Then Oliver puts the microphone in his mouth.)

THOMAS: (Not paying attention until Rebecca takes away his phone.) Bye, Daddy, bye. Wait, mum. I want to say bye to Daddy!

But Daddy is already gone.

You can watch the full video on YouTube.

But, you know, kids will be kids. I shouldn’t be too hard on them. They were young. They didn’t feel the significant weight of this moment, and some of that was on purpose. Oliver and Thomas knew other kids of astronauts, so having a parent who was about to go to space wasn’t that big a deal. As the Daily Mail reported, Rebecca even said, “We've always played it down, really, because here it's not that big a deal. There are lots of astronaut dads and mums out there.” And there is nice video of the kids clearly excited watching the launch itself.

But you know who I’ll bet was really excited? Tim’s parents, Angela and Nigel.

I mean, you raise your child, and you hope for the best. And then you see him proudly join the military and eventually become an astronaut. At that point, 545 people had been to space, but Tim would be only the second British astronaut. They were clearly so proud of him.

And even better, Tim was going to have a chance to call them from space! What a special moment, to talk to your child while they’re floating weightless on the space station orbiting Earth. And just a few days before Christmas, too. I’ll bet Angela and Nigel were ready and waiting by the phone for his call.

Wait, what’s this?

No. They missed his call!

His parents had just stepped out to visit their daughter who lived nearby, and when they got back, there was a message on their answering machine.

“This is just your son calling from the International Space Station. Um, I’m sorry you’re not in, but I will try and get you later.”

I feel ya, Tim. When I call my parents, I put the chances of getting their machine at around 50%. I always leave a message, but I don’t know how long it takes before they get around to checking.

But surely nothing else could go wrong with his family communication, right?

Right?

Well, a few days later, it was Christmas Eve. So of course Tim tried to call his wife. But he misdialed the phone number and ended up talking to some random woman instead. He apologized from space on Twitter:

I assume he eventually got ahold of Rebecca. But I’m really surprised the space station phone didn’t have everyone’s family on speed dial.

Six months later, Tim returned to Earth after 186 days in space. His parents may have missed his call, but they were there to greet him soon after he landed. It was Sunday, June 19, 2016 when he was finally reunited with his parents and children.

It was a happy Father’s Day.

Yeah, Tim did some other stuff while he was in space, including a five-hour spacewalk, but I love these little stories about his time there.

Tim retired from the ESA a few years ago and is now a strategic advisor with aerospace company Axiom Space. He’s also written a bunch of books, and is on a speaking tour about space exploration.

And that’s it for another newsletter! Thank you as always for reading. See you next time!

David