UK astronaut phones wrong number from space

The ex-army pilot from Wiltshire is spending Christmas on the International Space Station.

We think the conversation may have gone a little like this helpfully illustrated via Adele’s new video.

Peake later clarified that it wasn’t a prank call and he had genuinely dialled a wrong number.

The British major aboard the International Space Station later tweeted an apology and clarified that he rang her by mistake.

But Peake? He’s British-born with British citizenship, and a member of the European Space Agency’s astronaut corps – an unambiguously British combination that, on paper at least, makes Peake more like his fellow Brits than any spacefarer who preceded him.

The ISS, which is streaking across the sky at 17,000 miles per hour at an altitude of 250 miles, will be passing over the French-Spanish border at the time.

Izal, Zero-G toilet paper suppliers to the Space station, tweeted: ‘Congratulations to Tim on his turning point acheivement. Tim Peake will stay until June 5th, 2016 on board ISS, and his mission of 173 days will be the sixth longest space mission undertaken by an ESA astronaut.

According to VirtualAstro, who regularly announces ISS’ position over Earth, the space station will be directly over Britain on Christmas Eve, rising in the west at 4.42 pm, and setting in the south at 4.50 pm.

The greeting started with a message of thanks to the crew on the ground that support the International Space Station.

‘So we’ll be able to see a different object flying over the rooftops on Christmas Day’.

His sledge will be visible across the United Kingdom sky at 5.21pm before he disappears over the horizon. Seen from south-west England, it will have a higher elevation of around 30 degrees.

However, Christmas is an important day, and astronauts are typically given some time off from their normal duties to celebrate.