Tim Peake and Britain's road to space

266 Pages·2017·21.871 MB·English

by  Peake, Tim, Seedhouse, Erik

TIM PEAKE
and BRITAIN’S
ROAD TO SPACE
Erik Seedhouse
Tim Peake
and Britain’s Road To Space
Erik Seedhouse
TIM PEAKE
and BRITAIN’S
ROAD TO SPACE
Erik Seedhouse
Assistant Professor, Commercial Space Operations
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Daytona Beach, Florida
USA
SPRINGER-PRAXIS BOOKS IN SPACE EXPLORATION
Springer Praxis Books
ISBN 978-3-319-57906-1 ISBN 978-3-319-57907-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57907-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017950171
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Contents
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................... vii
Dedication .................................................................................................................. viii
About the Author ...................................................................................................... ix
Acronyms and Abbreviations ................................................................................... xi
List of Tables .............................................................................................................. xiv
Preface ........................................................................................................................ xvi
1. 26 million horsepower ......................................................................................... 1
December 15, 2015, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan ................................... 1
Operation Backfire – The British space program v 1.0 ......................................... 7
A British man in space. By 1950! ......................................................................... 7
Blue Steel .............................................................................................................. 9
Once upon a time in the 60s .................................................................................. 9
Ariel-1 ................................................................................................................... 11
Joining the club ..................................................................................................... 14
A new space program? .......................................................................................... 14
2. You mean we have a space program? ................................................................ 17
The Reagan years .................................................................................................. 18
The Catalyst – David Willetts ............................................................................... 22
The ISS AGA ......................................................................................................... 24
3. Right place, right time......................................................................................... 29
Recruitment drive .................................................................................................. 30
“Astronaut wanted, no experience necessary” ...................................................... 33
After selection, training ......................................................................................... 39
CAVES and NEEMO ............................................................................................ 48
v
vi Contents
4. Britain’s astronauts ............................................................................................. 52
Helen Sharman ...................................................................................................... 55
Michael Foale ........................................................................................................ 58
Mark Shuttleworth ................................................................................................. 77
Piers Sellers ........................................................................................................... 80
Nicholas Patrick .................................................................................................... 90
Gregory Johnson.................................................................................................... 98
Richard Garriott ..................................................................................................... 105
5. It was a beautiful launch ..................................................................................... 108
Launch site ............................................................................................................ 109
Launch vehicle ...................................................................................................... 115
Launch day ............................................................................................................ 123
6. A brilliant ambassador ....................................................................................... 132
Tim Peake’s first three months on orbit ................................................................. 133
Down to work ........................................................................................................ 143
Walking in space ................................................................................................... 148
A day in the life ..................................................................................................... 155
Britain’s first spacewalk ........................................................................................ 159
7. Principia part 2 .................................................................................................... 166
New arrivals .......................................................................................................... 167
BEAM ................................................................................................................... 172
Marathon man........................................................................................................ 179
Experiment package .............................................................................................. 182
Back on Earth after 186 days in space .................................................................. 190
8. S o how did he do? ................................................................................................ 193
The Tim Peake effect ............................................................................................. 193
The medical issues................................................................................................. 194
Success, or folly? ................................................................................................... 199
Inspiring the young ................................................................................................ 201
Britain’s future in space ......................................................................................... 205
Appendix I: Astronaut Selection Criteria .................................................................. 208
Appendix II: EVA tools ............................................................................................. 217
Appendix III: The Soyuz TMA Spacecraft ............................................................... 220
Appendix IV: Expeditions 46 and 47 ......................................................................... 223
Appendix V: Progress ................................................................................................ 228
Appendix VI: Science on board the International Space Station .............................. 230
Index ........................................................................................................................... 243
Acknowledgements
In writing this book, the author has been fortunate to have had five reviewers who made
such positive comments concerning the content of this publication. He is also grateful to
Maury Solomon at Springer and to Clive Horwood and his team at Praxis for guiding this
book through the publication process. The author also gratefully acknowledges all those
who gave permission to use many of the images in this book and also to Project Manager,
Sasi Reka, for guiding this manuscript through the final stages of publication. The author
also expresses his deep appreciation to Michael Shayler, whose attention to detail and
patience greatly facilitated the publication of this book and to Jim Wilkie for creating yet
another striking cover. Thanks Jim!
vii
To
Alice
viii
About the Author
Dr. Erik Seedhouse [from the author’s collection]
ix
x About the Author
Erik Seedhouse is a fully-trained commercial suborbital astronaut. After completing his
first degree, he joined the 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment. During his time in the
‘Paras’, Erik spent six months in Belize, where he was trained in the art of jungle warfare.
Later, he spent several months learning the intricacies of desert warfare in Cyprus. He
made more than 30 jumps from a Hercules C130 aircraft, performed more than 200 heli-
copter abseils and fired more light anti-tank weapons than he cares to remember!
Upon returning to academia, the author embarked upon a Master’s degree which
he supported by winning prize money in 100 km running races. After placing third in the
World 100 km Championships in 1992, Erik turned to ultra-distance triathlon, winning the
World Endurance Triathlon Championships in 1995 and 1996. For good measure, he won
the World Double Ironman Championships in 1995 and the infamous Decatriathlon, an
event requiring competitors to swim 38 km, cycle 1800 km, and run 422 km. Non-stop!
In 1996, Erik pursued his PhD at the German Space Agency’s Institute for Space
Medicine. While studying, he found time to win Ultraman Hawai’i and the European
Ultraman Championships, as well as completing Race Across America. Due to his success
as the world’s leading ultra-distance triathlete, Erik was featured in dozens of magazine
and television interviews. In 1997, GQ magazine named him the ‘Fittest Man in the
World’.
In 1999, Erik took a research job at Simon Fraser University. In 2005, the author worked
as an astronaut training consultant for Bigelow Aerospace. Between 2008 and 2013, he
served as Director of Canada’s manned centrifuge and hypobaric operations. In 2009, he
was one of the final 30 candidates in the Canadian Space Agency’s Astronaut Recruitment
Campaign. Erik has a dream job as an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical
University in Daytona Beach, Florida. In his spare time, he works as an astronaut instruc-
tor for Project PoSSUM, an occasional film consultant to Hollywood, a professional
speaker, a triathlon coach and an author. ‘Tim Peake’ is his 27th book. When not enjoying
the sun and rocket launches on Florida’s Space Coast with his fiancée, Alice, he divides his
time between his second home in Sandefjord and Waikoloa.