Tim Peake to tour the UK
ESA astronaut Tim Peake will embark on his postflight tour of the UK in October, visiting all four national capitals along with Leicester, Manchester, Salford and Glasgow. NASA crewmate Tim Kopra will join Tim for the visits to Edinburgh, Belfast and London.
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko is unable to join the tour owing to the recent delay to the upcoming Soyuz launch and his role as crew trainer for the Russian cosmonauts.
Tim spent just over six months living and working on the International Space Station, after launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 15 December 2015. More than 15 000 people watched at launch events held across the country.
Tim will be giving presentations in each city, giving his first-hand account about life on the Station and talking about the important science experiments he conducted.
The UK public followed Tim’s mission on social media and the Principia website. Tim now has over a million followers on Twitter, making him the most followed ESA astronaut.
As part of Tim’s Principia mission, the UK Space Agency invested £3 million in the biggest education and outreach initiative ever undertaken for an ESA astronaut. More than a million young people have taken part and the UK tour is a way of thanking the British public for their support throughout his mission.
![ESA astronaut Tim Peake signing autographs, at Farnborough Airshow 2016](/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2016/07/esa_astronaut_tim_peake_signing_autographs_at_farnborough_airshow_2016/16071915-1-eng-GB/ESA_astronaut_Tim_Peake_signing_autographs_at_Farnborough_Airshow_2016_article.jpg)
Schedule
- Cardiff: 13 October
- Leicester: 14 October
- Manchester: 15 October
- Glasgow: 16 October
- Edinburgh: 17 October
- Belfast: 18 October
- London: 19 October
Further details on venues, timings and how to attend will be released locally and on principia.org.uk.
Tim will also be appearing at the University of Portsmouth on 2 November and the University of York on 5 November for public talks as part of the UK Space Agency’s Schools Conferences.
Tim said: “I’ve been extremely touched by the support of the British public before, during and after my mission to the ISS and I hope that my postflight tour will allow me to thank as many of those people as possible.
“I received the footage of the launch parties that were held in the four capitals a couple of days after I arrived in space so now I will be able to attend in person to join in with the celebrations.”