• Question: Are very close to Tim and if so then how different is his life style to a normal lifestyle

    Asked by Comet_finder119 to Simon, Julia, Delma, Andrew, Alex on 8 Dec 2015.
    • Photo: Simon Challis

      Simon Challis answered on 8 Dec 2015:

      Hi Coment_Finder,

      Thanks for your question. I have met Tim several times, in the UK and also in Germany where I work either at the Astronaut Training Centre or at the Columbus Control Centre where I work.

      I wouldnt say that I am close to Tim but I do know enough about his training and his mission to be able at least partly answer your question:

      I guess the answer is YES and NO…. 😉

      On the one hand Tim and all the other astronauts have a lifestyle like very few other people in the world. Their training and their mission in space means that they have to work alot, learn how to operate very complex pieces of machinery, and learn about advance technology and science experiments. When they are not in the classroom or the laboratory in space, they do extreme sports or training: like flying jet planes, rock climbing, diving survival training, emergency training etc.

      On the other hand Tim also lives a life like you and me and will continue to do so in space from next week… he will eat three meals a day, do two hours exercise a day (probably more than we would ;-)). He will take time off work to read and write emails, call his friends back home, watch movies and football games… and of course go to the bathroom… the ISS probably has the most advance toilet in the world!

    • Photo: Andrew Winnard

      Andrew Winnard answered on 9 Dec 2015:

      Hey Comet,

      Great questions you have been asking today! It was fun in the chat earlier too 🙂

      I have met Tim a few times when I was working at the European Astronaut Centre. I used to go for coffee with him somtimes and I got to join his birthday celebrations 🙂

      Being a professional astronaut is a busy job which involves a lot of working away from home. They have to do training in America, Europe and Russia. They also go on training exercises living in caves underground, in the Neemo base under the sea and wilderness survival training. Around all this they do training to learn all about their space ships and how to live and work in space. Sometimes they use the big diving pools to train for working in weightlessness. They have pool SO big that they can put entire sections of space station in there and float around to practice for when they go to the real space station. There is one of these pools being built in the UK for space research amung other things and if I win then the people making that pool would do some interactive classrooms with video chat over the internet to all you guys to see the pools and learn more about real astronaut training and space research 🙂

      Here is video where you can see the astronaut training in all the different countries:

      I have been in all the training facilities at the European Astronaut Centre – so ask me any extra questions you have about that 🙂

      I have also made you a video myself explaining what will happen during Tim’s launch on Tuesday 🙂

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