In Conversation with Tim Peake
20 April 2026
British astronaut and former test pilot Tim Peake has a rare ability to connect with audiences of all ages and backgrounds, translating the extraordinary into something deeply human and relatable. From spacewalks hundreds of miles above Earth to the intense discipline of life as a test pilot, his experiences are the kind most people only ever glimpse through headlines, yet he brings them down to earth with clarity, humour, and insight.
In this interview, Tim Peake reflects on what it truly takes to accomplish high-stakes missions, where preparation, teamwork, and resilience are pushed to their limits. He also offers a more unexpected perspective: why the future of space exploration shouldn’t be left to scientists and engineers alone, and why he believes artists have a vital role to play beyond our planet. Along the way, he gives a behind-the-scenes look at his keynote talks, what audiences can expect, the lessons he hopes to leave them with, and why the story of space is ultimately a story about all of us.
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What can audiences expect from your keynotes?
One of the great things about spaceflight and about being an astronaut and a test pilot is that it enables me to touch on various different themes. Depending on client requests, I share insights about:
- Leadership
- Teamwork
- Resilience & Mindset
- Communication
- & Decision Making
I bring out stories and anecdotes to match the chosen theme. Then, if time allows, I always love a Q&A because it enables synergy between my expertise and the client’s business, as space has the ability to connect with so many different industries.
People like to talk to an astronaut, and I think they’d be disappointed if they didn’t get to see some of the amazing views from space. So, I always try to include the images I took in my talks as well.
What are the most asked questions from your audiences?
If I’m talking to schools and youngsters, then of course it’s “How do you go to the loo in space?”, “How do you sleep?” – it’s all the bodily functions they’re interested in, favourite foods, the rest of it…
From a mature audience, it’s a mixture of things. Many people ask, “Why space?” “Why are we doing it?” and I love that because it’s really important to explain what we’re doing in space and why we’re doing it. But actually, as adults, we also have this innate curiosity about the universe and about exploration. So, often I’ll get asked questions like “Do you think there’s life out there?” and again, I think that’s a great topic to explore.
Which key learnings are your audiences inspired by?
How we overcome adversity and how we work under pressure – I think that’s something that a lot of people take away. They want to get an idea of how we do things in space. Clearly, we’re very, very mission-focused and we’re mission-driven, but we’re working in a high-risk environment, and we’re often working under pressure.
I always like to talk a bit about how we select people, because people are your greatest asset. Whatever business you’re in, your people are the ones who are going to make it work or not.
So I like sharing how we select and prepare our people and how we then empower them to be able to do the job they want to do.
How did you cope with loneliness in space?
I was never lonely in space. You miss your family, and you miss your friends, obviously, but we’re so busy. It’s a really, really busy place. We’re also in good communication with people back down on Earth; every day, I could phone anybody I wanted from my crew quarters, and once a week, we get a video call with our families back on Earth. Every day you’re working on the International Space Station, you’re not just working with one person on Mission Control… an average day could involve working on 10-15 experiments: I might start in the Japanese module, talking to the Japanese Mission Control Center just outside of Tokyo, and then I’ll float across to the European module and be speaking to the team down in Munich, and then I’ll be talking to Huntsville, Alabama, maybe Houston a few times, and then I might go down to the Russian segment, speaking to Moscow Mission Control.
So you don’t feel lonely. You feel like you’re actually quite busy up there and talking to lots of people all the time.
What is NASA up to in 2026?
In 2026, NASA has an exciting year planned. Most people have probably seen that we’re trying to launch a rocket to the moon with four astronauts on board. So that’s the big story. It’s been wheeled out and wheeled back a couple of times as they’re having a few problems with some leaks, but hopefully that will get fixed, and we’ll go again in very early April. And it’s not just NASA; I should point out that the European Space Agency is a big part of this mission, as well as Canada and Japan.
I think it’s going to be huge for the public to see four humans going off to the moon again after more than 50 years. To see some of the imagery of Earth taken with today’s cameras from the moon is going to be phenomenal!
Would you go back to space yourself?
Definitely. I’ve yet to meet an astronaut who’s ready to hang up the spacesuit. All of us who’ve been in space want to go again, and we’ll all be wishing that we are sitting on top of that rocket when it launches to the moon. I would love to go back to space.
I’m working with a company called Axiom Space at the moment, and Axiom Space is really interesting because they have a contract to build the next space station after the ISS. They’re going to bolt onto the existing ISS while it’s still up there, and once they’ve got about two of their modules up there, it will be self-sufficient. Then the ISS can retire, and the Axiom station will stay there and get bigger. Axiom Space also has a contract to provide the spacesuits that the NASA astronauts are going to wear on the surface of the moon.
So, they’re a really exciting company to be working with, also flying private missions to the space station, and I’m hoping to command one of these future missions.
What do you miss about being in space?
Weightlessness and the view of Earth – they’re the two things that are pretty overwhelming when you first go to space. So, they’re the two biggest things that you miss when you’re back down on Earth.
But more than that, it’s the actual experience of being up there for so long and just being away from the planet. Anyone who’s had a really, really good holiday knows; you come back, and you’ve had that ‘getting away from it all’ feeling. When you’re in space, it’s the ultimate ‘getting away from it all’ feeling. It’s the most amazing and privileged place to live and work because nobody can ring you at all.
There are only 100 people who can e-mail you, and they’re not allowed to e-mail about work. So everything is so structured. Your work is really structured and organised, and all you’re doing is focusing on being the best astronaut you can possibly be up there by doing the best job you can. Not many people are able to have that freedom from distraction in their lives.
To be able to focus on the task in hand to such a high degree is something I’ve never really experienced before and I’ll never experience again, and I think that’s also something you really miss about space.
So if anyone wants to figure anything out, they just need to go to space to get away?
Yeah. I think if you’re a creative person, going up there and having that freedom of mind to work would be amazing. Unfortunately, we don’t tend to choose people who are creative to be astronauts. We tend to come from the science, engineering, or piloting community. We should send more artists, composers, and authors up there because I think that they would produce some amazing work.
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