The Big Interview: British astronaut Tim Peake

Throughout his extraordinary career, British astronaut Tim Peake has drawn on his agility, resilience and flexible mindset to navigate an array of challenges. He discusses the importance of self-awareness and leadership with Mary Appleton.

It was a surprise to learn that Tim Peake never actually dreamed of becoming an astronaut as a boy, despite pondering the ‘big questions’.

“When I looked up in the sky, I did always wonder, ‘where do we come from and why are we here?’ I just didn’t think that was a career path that was available to me,” he admits.

However, after a successful career as a military helicopter test pilot and British Army Air Corps officer, he seized the chance to live aboard the International Space station (ISS) for 186 days – and a unique opportunity to ponder these questions further.

“Watching Earth from space gives you an appreciation of humanity and who we are as a species,” he says. “The consciousness of the universe is quite incredible when you’re on a spacewalk. You think ‘I shouldn’t be here; this is so unreal. I’m a conscious being, looking down on the cradle of life as we know it, on Earth’. It’s amazing.”

It was towards the end of his army career, in 2009, that Peake spotted an advert from the European Space Agency (ESA) “seeking new talents to reinforce its astronaut team”. He applied, becoming one of six candidates selected to visit the ISS from more than 8,000 hopefuls.

After six years of intense training, Peake’s Principial mission began in December 2015, launching from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (the site of Russian launches since the dawn of the space age).

Alongside two crewmates (Tim Kopra of NASA and Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency) Peake worked 14-hour days, undertaking a spacewalk to repair the space station’s power supply, and undertaking a total of 250 experiments for ESA and international partners, including 30 tests on his own body.

"If you’re the kind of person who is able to self-reflect and willing to accept weaknesses and address them, then you can work on them and improve"

Not only did visiting space help shift Peake’s perspective about the fragility of Earth, the ‘bigger picture’ he gained meant he wanted to use his new-found status to inspire others, particularly around the environment and education.

“Before I became an astronaut, I was a very private individual,” he admits. “But when you’re given a platform and a voice, I think it’s important to use that for the benefit of the things that you’re passionate about. I want to bring some positivity to everybody’s lives.

“Not everyone can go into space, but if they could, it would change them. So if I can try and bring a little bit of that back to Earth, and educate people, then that to me is an important goal.”

What Peake exudes in abundance is an enthusiasm and a hunger for learning. Throughout his career, much focus has been placed on developing the soft skills and mental agility to help him to embrace change and work effectively with others. During our discussion, he continually highlights the importance of “sweating the small stuff” and having a flexible and positive attitude.

"The psychological preparation for going into an unusual environment or stressful situation is absolutely critical; frankly, it’s critical for adapting to change in any workplace"

“We are taught to normalise the abnormal, and accept unusual circumstances,” explains Peake. “The Soyuz capsule is a tiny, claustrophobic, terrible space, but if you went in there feeling panicked or thinking, ‘gosh, I just had my last breath of fresh air and now I’m trapped,’ you wouldn’t be able to function or do your job. Change is inevitable and we have to be able to cope with that.”

Fear of change can impinge on our success, he warns, so we must be confident about our own abilities and potential. This involves having the ‘tools’ (“a depth of knowledge alongside soft skills”) to start broadening our horizons and to think laterally; being open to continuous learning is a must.

But he also stresses the importance of enjoying one’s own career journey: “I’ve seen people take a torturous path to achieve their early dreams – and then when they got to the final stage, they realised they didn’t enjoy the destination either,” he says.

“I think it’s important to be really true to yourself and enjoy the journey through life. And perhaps not worry so much about where it takes you. Life is a journey of exploration and learning.”

Read: Shortlist: 10 life lessons from British astronaut Tim Peake