Timpeakensc180626 (7) — National Space Centre

Unpacking Tim Peake’s Principia Mission

25th Aug 2026
Author: Chloe Hopkinson

It's been ten years since British European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut, Tim Peake, made his journey back to Earth after spending six months onboard the International Space Station (ISS).

To celebrate the anniversary of Tim's return to Earth, he visited the National Space Centre and took part in a challenge: can he work out what the artefacts are in our mystery box?

We placed six items related to Tim's mission into a mystery box, and his job was to work out what they were and tell us why they were important to his Principia mission!

Tim Peake

In May 2009, Tim Peake was selected as an ESA astronaut, and after arduous training he was assigned to a mission to the International Space Station in May 2013. After many months spent in Russia learning how to operate the Soyuz spacecraft, he launched to space on 15 December 2015.

During his Principia mission Tim took part in over 250 scientific experiments. He conducted a spacewalk to repair the Station’s power supply, drove a rover across a simulated Mars terrain and helped dock two spacecraft. He was also actively connected with the public back on Earth - his mission focused on educational outreach, engaging more than 2 million schoolchildren across Europe in over 30 projects during his time in space.

Don't Stop Tim Now!

Before blast off, astronauts can listen to some songs to get them ready for a launch!

We put a Queen CD in the mystery box to find out more about Tim's blast off beats!

Tim Peake: Here we go! Oh, this feels like a CD case. We didn't really use CDs or DVDs on the space station. We have no CD player or DVD player, so I'm interested to see what this might be. Okay, 'Queen: Greatest Hits'. This is because before we launch into space, we're sat on top of the Soyuz rocket, and if we've done all our checks and drills and everything has gone okay, we've got about 40 minutes just to sit and chat and wait. So to help that time go by and help us relax, we're allowed to have some music played into the capsule. And one of the tracks that I chose was Queen, 'Don't Stop Me Now'.

Was this the only song you chose for launch?

Tim: It was actually one of three songs I chose along with Coldplay, 'A Sky Full of Stars' and U2, 'Beautiful Day'. But what was really fun was actually the last song that was played into the capsule. Just minutes before lifting off was the 'Final Countdown' by Europe.

Tim Kopra, Jeff Williams And Tim Peake, Dinner Table — ESA

Snacking On Space Sarnies

Tim dined on many different foods whilst in space, and he worked closely with Heston Blumenthal to create some tasty meals for his mission.

We put a canned bacon sarnie into the mystery box to get his tastebuds tingling!

Tim: Right. I think I know what that is. Feels like a very light tin of food. I can feel the ring pull bit there, so it's probably my bacon sarnie! So 10% of the food that we eat on the space station is allowed to be personalized. And, we get to choose who cooks it, and we get to choose the menu. So I did that as a competition along with Heston Blumenthal. And we opened it up to school children to design an astronaut's menu for the day, something British and, have it flown up to space. And the breakfast item was a bacon sarnie. Very tasty, too!

What was your favourite space food?

Tim: The most enjoyable food were maple muffin pancakes. They were soaked in maple syrup, but only enough for once every Sunday.

Sensational Spacewalker

Tim became the first British person to perform a spacewalk in January 2016 alongside NASA astronaut Tim Kopra.

We put a Sokol glove into the mystery box to get Tim talking about spacesuits and how it felt to perform a spacewalk!

Tim: This is a bit soft and squishy. Feels like a glove? Maybe not. Oh, yeah. Fingers, a glove. It could be a spacesuit glove! On our spacesuits, we can take off our gloves, and because this is a soft glove, this would be similar to the one that we wore inside the Soyuz spacecraft.

It's called the Sokol spacesuit and it's tailored - fits us perfectly, but it's designed to fit in the sitting position. So that's why we can't really stand up straight when we're wearing the spacesuits. And then once we're just ready for launch, we have to put the gloves on, helmet visors down, and then our suit is completely sealed in case anything goes wrong. So this glove would keep us safe inside our spacecraft. But then we need gloves also to keep us safe when we're outside the spacecraft, when we go on a spacewalk.

And for that, we have something called the EMU, the Extravehicular Maneuvering Unit, and the equipment that we have out there is designed to be able to keep us out there alive for about 6 to 8 hours, so that we can go and repair things on the space station. We can do science experiments outside in the vacuum of space. Clearly, going outside in the spacewalk, is an incredible experience.

For the first time, you get about five minutes just to acclimatize to this new environment. You're looking down to Earth beneath you at 400km. The Milky Way, if it's night-time, is up above you. In the daytime, you're just seeing this beautiful planet beneath you. So, it's an incredible experience to be outside, but we're not out there to enjoy the view. We have to get on and work really, really fast, really hard, really quickly, but also very, very carefully. Not to make a mistake. So it's a really intense activity for us. But probably the best thing that I did in my six month mission.

Can you describe your spacewalk in three words?

Tim: Surreal. Magnificent. And awesome.

Tim Peake runs a Marathon on the ISS — ESA / NASA

Run, Tim, Run!

Tim was the first astronaut to run a marathon in space and orbited the Earth twice during his run.

We got our hands on a 2016 London Marathon medal for Tim to discover in the mystery box.

Tim: Oh, that feels metal. Feels quite heavy. Feels like a medal. So I think this might be for running the London Marathon. Let's have a look. Yes it is. So in 2016, the London Marathon was being held in April, and it happened to be whilst I was on board the space station. So I decided I would run the marathon on the space station at the same time as everybody back down on Earth, and we were exercising for two hours every day in space to keep fit and healthy so it seemed like a great opportunity. And on the morning of the marathon, I had the actual marathon sent up on the television so I was able to watch the BBC channel. I was able to watch all the runners! I actually did the start of that race and then ran alongside them on the space station treadmill for three hours, 35 minutes, I think it was so, yeah, a quite a tough morning on the space station, but a lot of fun to do.

What was it like to run a marathon in space?

Tim: It was hard work. I'd probably take part in a marathon on Earth if I was going to do one again. But it was also a lot of fun. It gave me that real connection back to Earth.

Were there any other fond memories of your time in space?

Tim: There are too many to name. The spacewalk was definitely the highlight. But I think just overall camaraderie. Friday nights, getting together as a crew, having a meal around the galley table, they were always really special events.

There's Always Time to Monkey Around

ISS commander Scott Kelly managed to sneak a gorilla costume onboard the space station to pull some pranks on his crew mates.

To reminisce on the camaraderie of being part of a crew, we stuck a cuddly monkey toy into the mystery box.

Tim: Let's see what we've got. Oh something very soft. It feels like a cuddly toy. Gosh, not sure what this could allude to. Actually, it's obviously a cuddly toy. Let's have a look. A gorilla. Now, this is because my commander, Scott Kelly, somehow managed to get, an entire gorilla suit flown up to the space station! Not just the gorilla mask, but the whole thing. I think he had some help from his brother (Mark Kelly). And when he told me he had this gorilla suit, I didn't believe him. I said, 'You can't have got a gorilla suit onto the space station!' and he wanted to play a joke on our other crewmate, Tim Kopra. So he got fully dressed up in this gorilla suit and hid in Tim Kopra's crew quarters. I went grabbed Tim and said, 'Oh, you need to make a phone call in your in your crew quarters on your laptop', and of course, he got startled by this gorilla that was waiting for him inside. And then Scott chased me around the space station in his gorilla suit.

What is it like to be part of an astronaut crew?

Tim: Being part of an astronaut crew is a very special thing. We spent many, many months, if not years, training together. So you become a very close team. You know each other's families, you socialize together, and that's really important because you have to build up that level of trust. You depend on each other, especially out on a spacewalk. You literally put your life in other people's hands. So for us, also having downtime, relaxing, having fun, practical jokes is a really important part of that whole sort of bonding experience. And it's not just with the crew on board the space station. We're very close crew with all of our friends back down in Mission Control as well who are helping keep us safe whilst locked in space. So it's really one big team, one big family in the space industry.

Passionate About Principia

A mission patch is unique to each astronaut, and Tim's was designed as part of a competition!

We popped Tim's mission patch in the box to see if could work out what it was.

Tim: Oh, feels like a patch. And by the shape of it, I think it's my Principia patch. Let's have a look. Yes, Mission Principia! So this is because when I got assigned to my mission, and it's not often that we have British astronauts fly to space, it had been over 20 years, I think, before my mission that Helen Sharman first flew in 1991 to the Mir space station. So we said, well, we've got to make the most of this mission, and we wanted to include as many people as possible. So when it came to my space patch, we designed that or we had it as a competition to design it with Blue Peter. And also the name Principia was a competition to name the mission and to design the patch. The patch actually was won by, a chap called Troy, who I've met several times now since coming back from my mission. But he did a great job designing this patch with Sir Isaac Newton's apple falling to Earth, the Soyuz rocket going up. And obviously the UK down on planet Earth beneath it.

What is the legacy of Principia?

Tim: I think one of the greatest legacies from Mission Principia is that we did manage to reach so many students, over 2 million students. And that number keeps growing because the education outreach programs are still going on. We still have the Astro Pi computers on board the space station, although they're on their second version now, they've got even better. So we're still running coding in space. We're still doing all sorts of other activities that are including people. And we now have more British astronauts who are getting to carry on. You know, with that great work and continue to inspire our younger generations to keep looking up to the stars and be interested in science, tech, engineering, maths and the universe around them.

What does Principia mean to you?

Tim: Mission Principia, well, to me, of course it represents my six months in space, but it's also more than that. It's about inspiring our younger generation to, you know, never give up on things, to always stay curious and to realize that if you've got a passion, if you've got a dream, then it can be achieved.

;