What does United Kingdom astronaut Tim Peake fear?

In 2009, Peake was selected as an astronaut and will launch from Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for the mission titled Principia, named after Isaac Newton’s ground-breaking Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which describes the principal laws of motion and gravity.

Today was Mr Peake’s last visit to the United Kingdom before his six-month stint on the station, beginning on December 15 when he leaves Earth on a Russian Soyuz rocket.

Major Tim Peake, who will be the first British astronaut to go to the global Space Station in December, has become an ambassador for youth charity The Prince’s Trust.

Tim Peake will run over 260 experiments on board the ISS.

“We look forward to working with Tim and wish him every success in his mission to the worldwide Space Station”.

Speaking at a press conference in London’s Science Museum, Major Peake said: “During my training in recent months I have come to learn that none of this would have been possible without the efforts of many”.

When BBC asked him about whether he expected to regenerate public enthusiasm to the level of the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 70s, he said that he was hoping that it has an effect similar to that to a few degree.

“I think it is really important to reach out to our younger generation and to try to encourage them to take up science, technology, engineering and mathematics as subjects. We have a skills shortage at the moment, and we desperately need more graduates with those backgrounds”. During his 5-month mission three crew members will return to Earth, reverting to the more usual complement of six.

These experiments include radiation physics, materials science, solar physics, biology, physiology, and technical demonstrations.

“They can undertake the Space to Earth challenge of covering the 250 miles from space to earth during my mission”.

“Astronauts need to understand the science involved and work the equipment in different laboratories”.

There is also the Principia Space Diary, which is a project led by children’s author Lucy Hawkings to boost literacy by encouraging youngsters to create their own space-themed diaries. The environment of space allows researchers to grow higher quality protein crystals than on Earth, which allows scientists to more easily examine the structure of a protein that causes disease or one that treats it. “And the benefits of having good protein crystals means that you really can identify very good drugs for cancer and diseases”.

The UK Space Agency, along with its partners, have put together an exciting programme of activities for schools and other educational institutions, groups, as well as individuals so that you can participate in Tim’s mission.

At his final pre-flight press conference at the Science Museum in London, the former military test pilot spoke highly of his rigorous training, and insisted he was only nervous about forgetting something.