1 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:19,500 Tim Peake is about to fulfil a dream. 2 00:00:19,500 --> 00:00:25,700 I saw an internet article that said, "astronauts wanted", but I'd never 3 00:00:25,700 --> 00:00:31,460 appreciated that, as a UK citizen, you could become an astronaut. 4 00:00:33,500 --> 00:00:37,660 He is the first Briton to join the European Astronaut Corps. 5 00:00:39,300 --> 00:00:43,580 Finding out that I'd been selected was a real mixture of emotions. 6 00:00:43,580 --> 00:00:48,020 I was ecstatic, obviously, the overriding emotion was excitement. 7 00:00:50,060 --> 00:00:53,820 Becoming an astronaut takes six years of the most demanding 8 00:00:53,820 --> 00:00:55,340 and rigorous training. 9 00:00:55,340 --> 00:00:57,180 You do have to work hard. 10 00:00:57,180 --> 00:01:00,580 I come from a technical background, I love systems, 11 00:01:00,580 --> 00:01:03,900 I love aircraft, and those aspects of my training - the EVA training, 12 00:01:03,900 --> 00:01:07,100 robotics, the Soyuz - I've lapped it up and enjoyed it. 13 00:01:09,380 --> 00:01:13,260 For the past 18 months, Tim has kept a video diary, 14 00:01:13,260 --> 00:01:16,220 revealing the risks and pressures he faces. 15 00:01:16,220 --> 00:01:19,100 I've just had my first run in the centrifuge. 16 00:01:19,100 --> 00:01:20,980 I found it really hard to breathe. 17 00:01:20,980 --> 00:01:23,540 It's like having an elephant sitting on your chest. 18 00:01:25,940 --> 00:01:29,980 Horizon has been allowed behind the scenes to follow Tim's training 19 00:01:29,980 --> 00:01:33,540 and his family as he prepares to say goodbye. 20 00:01:41,860 --> 00:01:46,700 The closer you get to space flight, the more optimistic you get. 21 00:01:46,700 --> 00:01:50,100 The desire to fly increases so when people ask me, 22 00:01:50,100 --> 00:01:52,420 "Are you nervous about flying to space?", 23 00:01:52,420 --> 00:01:55,700 that's why I genuinely answer all the time, "Absolutely not. 24 00:01:55,700 --> 00:01:59,140 "The thing I'm most nervous about is NOT flying to space." 25 00:02:03,820 --> 00:02:05,780 In two days' time, 26 00:02:05,780 --> 00:02:09,820 Tim Peake will climb on board the International Space Station. 27 00:03:08,780 --> 00:03:11,780 I get around by bike in Star City. It's the easiest way. 28 00:03:14,060 --> 00:03:17,220 Everything is fairly close so whether it's going to the shops, 29 00:03:17,220 --> 00:03:19,380 whether it's going to the training hall, 30 00:03:19,380 --> 00:03:21,380 it's only a five-minute bike ride away. 31 00:03:25,100 --> 00:03:28,700 As I get closer to flight, I'm being a lot more careful on my bike! 32 00:03:29,860 --> 00:03:33,380 You know, you become so aware of how careful you have to be. 33 00:03:33,380 --> 00:03:36,940 You don't want anything to go wrong. You want to make that launch date. 34 00:03:40,380 --> 00:03:42,740 We're training in the same buildings 35 00:03:42,740 --> 00:03:46,140 that were used back in the '60s and, for the Russians, 36 00:03:46,140 --> 00:03:49,020 there's an enormous amount of national pride 37 00:03:49,020 --> 00:03:52,860 surrounding their space programme and I really enjoyed 38 00:03:52,860 --> 00:03:56,100 being immersed in this tradition of space exploration. 39 00:04:03,620 --> 00:04:05,460 Tim's astronaut training 40 00:04:05,460 --> 00:04:10,860 has meant spending over nine months in Russia because, since 2011, 41 00:04:10,860 --> 00:04:15,380 only the Russian Soyuz can take crews to the International Space Station. 42 00:04:21,580 --> 00:04:25,660 And, as all the controls inside the spacecraft are in Russian, 43 00:04:25,660 --> 00:04:28,420 every astronaut has to learn the language. 44 00:04:29,860 --> 00:04:34,860 HE READS IN RUSSIAN 45 00:04:34,860 --> 00:04:38,420 This is not good cos these words are all new, this lesson. Yes. 46 00:04:38,420 --> 00:04:39,780 They're new words. 47 00:04:39,780 --> 00:04:42,020 I just had the most awful Russian lesson, 48 00:04:42,020 --> 00:04:45,020 I felt like walking out halfway through, 49 00:04:45,020 --> 00:04:48,460 and what's worse is that the further down the training we go, 50 00:04:48,460 --> 00:04:52,220 then the more technical the Russian language becomes. 51 00:04:52,220 --> 00:04:54,060 'Learning Russian has been 52 00:04:54,060 --> 00:04:56,540 'the single most difficult aspect of my training. 53 00:04:56,540 --> 00:04:59,660 'I love systems, I love diagrams.' 54 00:04:59,660 --> 00:05:01,260 I'm not a natural linguist 55 00:05:01,260 --> 00:05:03,660 and Russian, for me, has been particularly hard. 56 00:05:10,060 --> 00:05:13,820 The Sokol spacesuit is actually really comfortable, 57 00:05:13,820 --> 00:05:15,740 surprisingly comfortable. 58 00:05:15,740 --> 00:05:18,620 It's quite a nice, soft spacesuit. 59 00:05:18,620 --> 00:05:20,820 It's more comfortable when sitting down. 60 00:05:20,820 --> 00:05:22,860 Of course, it's designed for the seated position 61 00:05:22,860 --> 00:05:24,620 so when you're standing up, 62 00:05:24,620 --> 00:05:26,940 that's why everyone looks hunched over 63 00:05:26,940 --> 00:05:29,780 cos it's kind of very tight when you're stood up. 64 00:05:29,780 --> 00:05:32,820 During Soyuz flight training, Tim and the crew's response 65 00:05:32,820 --> 00:05:37,700 to emergencies has been constantly tested. 66 00:05:37,700 --> 00:05:40,180 So we're going to do a six-hour simulation today, 67 00:05:40,180 --> 00:05:43,580 which pretty much takes us through all of the phases of flight. 68 00:05:43,580 --> 00:05:46,820 It takes about six hours from launch to get to the space station 69 00:05:46,820 --> 00:05:48,660 and then we'll prepare for a descent 70 00:05:48,660 --> 00:05:50,900 and we'll go through the whole descent profile. 71 00:05:50,900 --> 00:05:54,580 I suspect there'll be an emergency during the descent. 72 00:05:54,580 --> 00:05:59,220 Each member of the Soyuz crew has a role to play, and to work as a team 73 00:05:59,220 --> 00:06:04,060 they've simulated launch, docking and descent time and time again. 74 00:06:05,220 --> 00:06:07,500 My crewmates - Tim Kopra from NASA 75 00:06:07,500 --> 00:06:10,980 and Yuri Malenchenko from Roscosmos - 76 00:06:10,980 --> 00:06:13,300 both experienced flown astronauts. 77 00:06:13,300 --> 00:06:17,700 Tim Kopra has spent a couple of months on the space station already 78 00:06:17,700 --> 00:06:20,100 and he also completed one spacewalk. 79 00:06:20,100 --> 00:06:24,020 Yuri Malenchenko had five previous flights. 80 00:06:24,020 --> 00:06:26,340 He's flown both the shuttle and the Soyuz 81 00:06:26,340 --> 00:06:28,140 and has completed five spacewalks as well. 82 00:06:28,140 --> 00:06:33,740 He's a man of few words, but when he talks, you need to listen. 83 00:06:33,740 --> 00:06:35,780 HE SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN 84 00:06:53,860 --> 00:06:57,140 Before ignition, the Soyuz spacecraft with its crew 85 00:06:57,140 --> 00:07:02,380 sits on 300 tonnes of kerosene and liquid oxygen. 86 00:07:02,380 --> 00:07:06,860 Launch is a precisely engineered explosion. 87 00:07:34,380 --> 00:07:35,900 ..the engines are all nominal. 88 00:07:35,900 --> 00:07:38,780 You see Yuri Malenchenko there on the left. 89 00:07:38,780 --> 00:07:42,300 That toy that is hanging there was given to him by his daughter. 90 00:07:52,380 --> 00:07:55,500 Received. We confirm a successful separation. 91 00:08:12,460 --> 00:08:18,340 Six hours after launch, both the Soyuz and the space station 92 00:08:18,340 --> 00:08:23,820 will be travelling at 27,500kmph, 350km above the Earth. 93 00:08:27,980 --> 00:08:31,140 They will then dock with millimetre precision. 94 00:08:35,020 --> 00:08:36,860 INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN IN RUSSIAN 95 00:08:36,860 --> 00:08:41,020 In the Soyuz spacecraft, we rely on each other a large amount, 96 00:08:41,020 --> 00:08:43,220 especially if something goes wrong. 97 00:08:43,220 --> 00:08:46,540 Then you're completely reliant on each other to do your work 98 00:08:46,540 --> 00:08:50,340 accurately, calmly and correctly. 99 00:08:52,700 --> 00:08:56,940 The Soyuz is considered the world's safest for manned space flight, 100 00:08:56,940 --> 00:09:01,020 but emergencies can - and do - occur. 101 00:09:02,660 --> 00:09:06,020 One of the things that can happen to the Soyuz spacecraft 102 00:09:06,020 --> 00:09:09,140 when it descends is that it will fall at a steeper angle 103 00:09:09,140 --> 00:09:11,580 and that's called a ballistic re-entry. 104 00:09:11,580 --> 00:09:13,260 Very serious situation. 105 00:09:15,620 --> 00:09:20,380 In 2008, Yuri Malenchenko survived a ballistic re-entry 106 00:09:20,380 --> 00:09:25,620 and missed his landing site by 475km. 107 00:09:46,740 --> 00:09:49,980 The reason why I did the centrifuge run today was to get me 108 00:09:49,980 --> 00:09:53,020 used to the kind of Gs that I'm going to be exposed to. 109 00:09:58,580 --> 00:10:01,340 8Gs is exposing you to the re-entry 110 00:10:01,340 --> 00:10:04,380 and that's only really if the re-entry goes wrong. 111 00:10:04,380 --> 00:10:09,420 You might get up to 8 or 9 Gs for 30 to 40 seconds. 112 00:10:09,420 --> 00:10:11,300 Just try to breathe. 113 00:10:11,300 --> 00:10:13,820 It's like having an elephant sitting on your chest, 114 00:10:13,820 --> 00:10:16,500 so you can't possibly breathe through your chest, 115 00:10:16,500 --> 00:10:20,020 you have to breathe through your abdomen and almost gulping for air, 116 00:10:20,020 --> 00:10:21,580 just to try and take short breaths 117 00:10:21,580 --> 00:10:23,260 and just to keep that oxygen flow going. 118 00:10:24,820 --> 00:10:32,420 During descent, the module will slow from 27,500kmph to 27kmph. 119 00:10:32,420 --> 00:10:37,340 But the impact of landing is still a potential danger for the crew. 120 00:10:37,340 --> 00:10:40,140 I had my Soyuz seats tailor-made for me. 121 00:10:40,140 --> 00:10:43,060 The reason why the seat has to fit so well 122 00:10:43,060 --> 00:10:46,020 is really for the re-entry and the landing. 123 00:10:46,020 --> 00:10:49,900 You lie in this bath of gypsum for about 15 minutes 124 00:10:49,900 --> 00:10:52,740 until the gypsum solidifies. 125 00:10:52,740 --> 00:10:56,460 Professionals will then sand out your body shape. 126 00:10:56,460 --> 00:10:59,580 It's critical that it fits you perfectly. 127 00:10:59,580 --> 00:11:03,500 The Soyuz landing has been described to me by fellow astronauts 128 00:11:03,500 --> 00:11:06,620 as like sitting in a small car and being hit by a big truck. 129 00:11:06,620 --> 00:11:09,300 We'll get our hands, our arms and our shoulders 130 00:11:09,300 --> 00:11:12,580 tucked in as snugly into this seat as possible 131 00:11:12,580 --> 00:11:16,100 and we're also advised not to have our tongue between our teeth 132 00:11:16,100 --> 00:11:17,340 for obvious reasons. 133 00:11:27,740 --> 00:11:30,340 There's no point in thinking that it's just a simulation. 134 00:11:30,340 --> 00:11:33,860 You've got to have the mind-set of what we're doing is very real 135 00:11:33,860 --> 00:11:35,780 and if there's an emergency situation, 136 00:11:35,780 --> 00:11:38,860 then you run with it as if this is what can happen. 137 00:11:59,380 --> 00:12:02,180 The umbilicals have been retracted... 138 00:12:02,180 --> 00:12:05,860 Each year, at least five supply rockets are launched 139 00:12:05,860 --> 00:12:09,740 to the space station, carrying food, water and fuel. 140 00:12:09,740 --> 00:12:14,580 Liftoff. Liftoff of the ISS Progress 59 cargo ship 141 00:12:14,580 --> 00:12:18,060 on a fast-track journey to the International Space Station. 142 00:12:29,060 --> 00:12:30,220 Earlier this year, 143 00:12:30,220 --> 00:12:33,740 a Russian Progress rocket failed to reach the space station. 144 00:12:36,140 --> 00:12:41,220 The television camera was activated and showed a rather significant 145 00:12:41,220 --> 00:12:43,220 spinning, rotational spinning motion... 146 00:12:43,220 --> 00:12:49,340 Just over a week later, it fell back to Earth, burning up on re-entry. 147 00:12:51,820 --> 00:12:54,460 At the moment, it's a little bit difficult 148 00:12:54,460 --> 00:12:56,060 to know what's going to happen, 149 00:12:56,060 --> 00:12:58,500 because something went wrong with the rocket. 150 00:12:58,500 --> 00:13:00,060 Now, that's the same rocket 151 00:13:00,060 --> 00:13:02,300 or it's very, very similar to the rocket 152 00:13:02,300 --> 00:13:04,380 that the manned vehicle launches in 153 00:13:04,380 --> 00:13:07,620 so clearly we're not going to go ahead with a manned launch 154 00:13:07,620 --> 00:13:11,260 if there is potentially something wrong with that rocket 155 00:13:11,260 --> 00:13:13,340 so, at the moment, we're kind of waiting 156 00:13:13,340 --> 00:13:16,580 to find out whether there'll be a delay to the next launch, 157 00:13:16,580 --> 00:13:18,500 which I'm the backup crew for. 158 00:13:41,300 --> 00:13:44,780 Whilst the rocket malfunction was investigated, 159 00:13:44,780 --> 00:13:48,460 all Soyuz launches were suspended so Tim left Moscow 160 00:13:48,460 --> 00:13:52,180 and flew to Houston, Texas, where he trained with NASA. 161 00:13:54,300 --> 00:13:56,860 So, at the moment, we've just left my house 162 00:13:56,860 --> 00:13:59,220 and we're on the way to Johnson Space Center. 163 00:13:59,220 --> 00:14:02,540 It's about a 20-minute drive away and, as you can see, 164 00:14:02,540 --> 00:14:05,500 we're in a torrential downpour this afternoon. 165 00:14:05,500 --> 00:14:08,100 A typical sort of summer's day in Houston, 166 00:14:08,100 --> 00:14:11,820 where we have these big thunderstorms - fairly impressive. 167 00:14:11,820 --> 00:14:14,460 THUNDER RUMBLES 168 00:14:14,460 --> 00:14:18,660 We have to train in all different areas around the world - 169 00:14:18,660 --> 00:14:23,380 Europe in Cologne, also in Russia and Japan and Canada as well - 170 00:14:23,380 --> 00:14:25,340 and when I looked at my schedule 171 00:14:25,340 --> 00:14:28,460 and I worked out how much time I'd be in each location, 172 00:14:28,460 --> 00:14:31,540 about 60% of my time was going to be here in Houston 173 00:14:31,540 --> 00:14:34,740 so, as a family man, it made sense to move the family here 174 00:14:34,740 --> 00:14:36,540 and come and live here. 175 00:14:37,620 --> 00:14:40,860 Right, guys, sit up. Look, let's have a look at this. 176 00:14:40,860 --> 00:14:43,300 Now, who's that? 177 00:14:43,300 --> 00:14:44,580 Daddy. Yeah. 178 00:14:44,580 --> 00:14:50,980 Tim's a great dad and that's one of his massive plus points. 179 00:14:53,060 --> 00:14:54,980 Is that you? Yes. 180 00:14:54,980 --> 00:15:00,740 'Thomas, our oldest boy, does get now what Daddy's going to be doing.' 181 00:15:00,740 --> 00:15:03,980 That's in Russia. When I go to Russia on work, yeah... 182 00:15:05,660 --> 00:15:08,980 'He's starting to understand a lot more about space 183 00:15:08,980 --> 00:15:12,740 'and clearly has quite a good grasp of what I'm about to do.' 184 00:15:12,740 --> 00:15:16,180 Oliver, at four years old, we read stories and we talk about it, 185 00:15:16,180 --> 00:15:20,860 but he's still in that kind of imaginative phase of his life. 186 00:15:20,860 --> 00:15:23,700 'We have done things that help him understand better 187 00:15:23,700 --> 00:15:26,140 'what Dad's life is going to be like for six months - 188 00:15:26,140 --> 00:15:28,420 'we've taken him to the simulator 189 00:15:28,420 --> 00:15:32,380 'so he can see how the ISS is laid out, where Daddy will sleep' 190 00:15:32,380 --> 00:15:34,780 and where he'll eat, where he'll go to the loo, 191 00:15:34,780 --> 00:15:37,220 which is by far the most interesting part of it all! 192 00:15:37,220 --> 00:15:38,580 Where am I here? 193 00:15:38,580 --> 00:15:42,180 In Russia. Yes, well done! That's the Soyuz spacecraft. 194 00:15:42,180 --> 00:15:43,820 That's me strapping in. 195 00:15:43,820 --> 00:15:47,060 We've always played it down, really, especially here. 196 00:15:47,060 --> 00:15:50,220 It's not that big a deal, there's a lot of astronaut dads 197 00:15:50,220 --> 00:15:53,540 and mums out there so we didn't want them to feel different 198 00:15:53,540 --> 00:15:56,620 or unusual because of what their dad happens to be doing just now. 199 00:15:56,620 --> 00:15:59,540 You were there yesterday. Is that almost finished? 200 00:16:00,900 --> 00:16:02,740 Is it almost finished? 201 00:16:14,460 --> 00:16:17,340 INAUDIBLE 202 00:16:17,340 --> 00:16:19,340 'My name is Tim Kopra. 203 00:16:19,340 --> 00:16:23,420 'I work as an astronaut at NASA, the Johnson Space Center.' 204 00:16:23,420 --> 00:16:26,460 I flew to space station in 2009. 205 00:16:26,460 --> 00:16:28,860 I went up on Space Shuttle Endeavour 206 00:16:28,860 --> 00:16:31,740 and came home on Space Shuttle Discovery, 207 00:16:31,740 --> 00:16:33,380 spent two months on board 208 00:16:33,380 --> 00:16:37,220 and currently Tim Peake and I are crew members together. 209 00:16:47,060 --> 00:16:50,460 In my opinion, the International Space Station 210 00:16:50,460 --> 00:16:55,100 is the greatest engineering achievement of mankind. 211 00:16:55,100 --> 00:16:59,380 It was built over decades, really, if you go back to the design phase, 212 00:16:59,380 --> 00:17:02,260 and every component up there was brought up 213 00:17:02,260 --> 00:17:04,660 either in the payload bay of the space shuttle 214 00:17:04,660 --> 00:17:06,900 or was launched on a Russian Soyuz rocket 215 00:17:06,900 --> 00:17:09,940 and then all that was assembled with robotic arms 216 00:17:09,940 --> 00:17:13,540 and astronauts outside doing spacewalks. 217 00:17:13,540 --> 00:17:17,460 A phenomenal effort and a phenomenal engineering feat. 218 00:17:23,180 --> 00:17:27,220 I would describe the size of the space station as looking down 219 00:17:27,220 --> 00:17:31,100 on an American football field and that's essentially how big it is. 220 00:17:31,100 --> 00:17:35,940 Its primary function is an orbiting laboratory and, inside, 221 00:17:35,940 --> 00:17:39,020 you can picture a three- or four-bedroom home. 222 00:17:39,020 --> 00:17:42,860 It keeps our air clean, it processes our water - 223 00:17:42,860 --> 00:17:45,460 in fact, we recycle most of the water on board - 224 00:17:45,460 --> 00:17:46,900 and, as a consequence, 225 00:17:46,900 --> 00:17:50,580 we're able to live in this environment and do science. 226 00:17:53,300 --> 00:17:57,860 The Johnson Space Center has an exact replica of the space station. 227 00:17:57,860 --> 00:18:02,660 It's used for learning how it functions, for maintenance training 228 00:18:02,660 --> 00:18:05,220 and emergency evacuation drill. 229 00:18:05,220 --> 00:18:07,820 ALARM BEEPS 230 00:18:09,860 --> 00:18:12,700 We have... It looks like a fire in node one. 231 00:18:12,700 --> 00:18:15,340 We manually activated the alarm. 232 00:18:15,340 --> 00:18:17,180 'This training is very important 233 00:18:17,180 --> 00:18:20,260 'because space is a very harsh, unforgiving environment. 234 00:18:20,260 --> 00:18:24,060 'Something like a fire or a rapid depress or a toxic release,' 235 00:18:24,060 --> 00:18:27,140 those are situations where the response 236 00:18:27,140 --> 00:18:30,580 that the crew has to do is very time critical. 237 00:18:30,580 --> 00:18:35,420 Yuri, we need one last cabin CSA-CP reading. 238 00:18:35,420 --> 00:18:37,700 If the fire becomes uncontrollable 239 00:18:37,700 --> 00:18:40,340 and the atmosphere becomes very contaminated, 240 00:18:40,340 --> 00:18:42,380 then in the worst case, of course, 241 00:18:42,380 --> 00:18:44,220 we would have to evacuate the space station. 242 00:18:44,220 --> 00:18:47,860 'You have to perform these steps quickly and accurately by memory. 243 00:18:47,860 --> 00:18:51,380 'You cannot afford to be looking in the emergency procedures.' 244 00:18:52,740 --> 00:18:55,580 In 1997, an intense fire 245 00:18:55,580 --> 00:19:00,100 rapidly filled the Mir space station with dense smoke - 246 00:19:00,100 --> 00:19:03,860 a potentially fatal threat to the six cosmonauts on board. 247 00:19:06,140 --> 00:19:08,860 Fire is a special problem in zero gravity. 248 00:19:08,860 --> 00:19:11,420 It's a completely enclosed environment 249 00:19:11,420 --> 00:19:13,780 so there's nowhere for the smoke to go. 250 00:19:13,780 --> 00:19:15,100 Things burn differently, 251 00:19:15,100 --> 00:19:18,740 it tends to burn in more of a ball rather than a peak flame. 252 00:19:18,740 --> 00:19:21,940 Potential sources would be electrical - in racks 253 00:19:21,940 --> 00:19:24,020 and behind panels where the crew can't see it. 254 00:19:24,020 --> 00:19:27,220 We also have oxygen stored up there in tanks. 255 00:19:27,220 --> 00:19:29,900 Things like the spacesuits have oxygen tanks in them. 256 00:19:29,900 --> 00:19:31,900 If you had a fire near one of these oxygen sources, 257 00:19:31,900 --> 00:19:33,380 that could lead to an explosion 258 00:19:33,380 --> 00:19:35,980 and that may be a situation where you would have to evacuate. 259 00:19:35,980 --> 00:19:37,580 WHIRRING That sounds good. 260 00:19:37,580 --> 00:19:39,340 Get a final reading and isolate that. 261 00:19:39,340 --> 00:19:41,900 You guys want to close the forward lab hatch? 262 00:19:45,420 --> 00:19:47,980 'Tim did great. He's very good at what he does. 263 00:19:47,980 --> 00:19:52,020 'He's an excellent astronaut. Tim and his whole crew did very well.' 264 00:19:53,700 --> 00:19:55,500 We'll see you down there. Right. 265 00:20:25,940 --> 00:20:29,700 By early July, Soyuz rockets were assessed as flightworthy 266 00:20:29,700 --> 00:20:32,660 and a schedule for manned flights resumed. 267 00:20:37,340 --> 00:20:39,940 It's Friday the 10th of July and, finally, today, 268 00:20:39,940 --> 00:20:43,460 we're off down to Kazakhstan for the launch, where I'm backup crew. 269 00:20:43,460 --> 00:20:46,100 It's about six weeks later than it should have been 270 00:20:46,100 --> 00:20:49,300 because of the Progress mishap, which has delayed everything, 271 00:20:49,300 --> 00:20:52,940 but the rocket has been deemed safe, which is great news, obviously, 272 00:20:52,940 --> 00:20:57,140 so to actually go down to Kazakhstan to see the launch site itself, 273 00:20:57,140 --> 00:21:00,340 this will be my first launch that I'll be watching. 274 00:21:00,340 --> 00:21:02,740 It's incredibly exciting, I can't wait. 275 00:21:34,620 --> 00:21:38,500 In a remote corner of Kazakhstan, the Baikonur Cosmodrome 276 00:21:38,500 --> 00:21:43,260 has been the launch site for Soviet and Russian rockets since 1957. 277 00:21:45,860 --> 00:21:49,740 When we arrived, I took a walk around and I ended up here 278 00:21:49,740 --> 00:21:52,660 and the sun was setting and I suddenly realised that, 279 00:21:52,660 --> 00:21:56,820 behind me, is the tree that Yuri Gagarin planted in 1961 280 00:21:56,820 --> 00:22:01,220 prior to the first flight ever taken by a human being into space 281 00:22:01,220 --> 00:22:04,660 and it was a very humbling moment. 282 00:22:04,660 --> 00:22:08,300 And then as I walked further down the Cosmonaut Grove, 283 00:22:08,300 --> 00:22:12,940 all the cosmonauts and astronauts that have flown before me, it really 284 00:22:12,940 --> 00:22:16,900 brought to me what it is that I'm going to be doing up there in space. 285 00:24:04,220 --> 00:24:07,380 As launch day approached, both backup and prime crews 286 00:24:07,380 --> 00:24:11,820 were kept isolated from any chance of illness or infection. 287 00:24:16,100 --> 00:24:20,180 At the moment, I'm in quarantine, which is why I'm behind glass. 288 00:24:20,180 --> 00:24:23,060 I've been in quarantine for nearly two weeks now 289 00:24:23,060 --> 00:24:25,940 along with the prime crew and they launch in two days' time 290 00:24:25,940 --> 00:24:29,180 to the International Space Station. 291 00:24:29,180 --> 00:24:31,420 It's a great opportunity as backup crew 292 00:24:31,420 --> 00:24:34,900 because you take part in this six months before your own launch 293 00:24:34,900 --> 00:24:37,620 and, for us, it's like a dress rehearsal. 294 00:24:37,620 --> 00:24:40,460 I'm constantly putting myself in their shoes and thinking, 295 00:24:40,460 --> 00:24:43,940 "What's it going to be like in six months' time?" 296 00:24:43,940 --> 00:24:47,180 HE SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN 297 00:24:58,140 --> 00:25:00,220 European astronauts are allowed 298 00:25:00,220 --> 00:25:02,700 to bring partners to their backup launch. 299 00:25:02,700 --> 00:25:06,500 This allows them to plan for the day of their own launch. 300 00:25:08,060 --> 00:25:10,940 I've been fortunate enough to come out 301 00:25:10,940 --> 00:25:16,660 as spouse of a backup crew member so we get to see it 302 00:25:16,660 --> 00:25:20,100 and experience everything that goes on around it. 303 00:25:22,740 --> 00:25:24,980 I rely on Rebecca hugely. 304 00:25:24,980 --> 00:25:28,980 She's an immense base of support not just for our children, 305 00:25:28,980 --> 00:25:33,380 but also she provides a lot of support for me as well. 306 00:25:33,380 --> 00:25:35,700 There are some things as you go through the training 307 00:25:35,700 --> 00:25:38,940 that you can discuss easily with your colleagues and your crewmates. 308 00:25:38,940 --> 00:25:42,820 There are other things where really the only person you can turn to 309 00:25:42,820 --> 00:25:46,180 is your soul mate and your wife to be able to discuss things 310 00:25:46,180 --> 00:25:47,500 and for her to help me through. 311 00:25:49,540 --> 00:25:52,060 I always figured that I married a man 312 00:25:52,060 --> 00:25:56,860 who loved doing exciting things, that had an element of danger. 313 00:25:56,860 --> 00:26:00,900 You know, his job was flying helicopters as hard 314 00:26:00,900 --> 00:26:03,340 and as fast as they could go to test them out. 315 00:26:05,220 --> 00:26:09,580 That's what makes Tim who he is and so much fun to be with 316 00:26:09,580 --> 00:26:11,500 so I'm very accepting of that. 317 00:26:13,100 --> 00:26:15,740 Finding out that I'd been selected as an astronaut 318 00:26:15,740 --> 00:26:18,700 was a real mixture of emotions. I mean, I was ecstatic, obviously. 319 00:26:18,700 --> 00:26:21,460 The overriding emotion was excitement, 320 00:26:21,460 --> 00:26:25,300 but we had a serious discussion before I went for the medical 321 00:26:25,300 --> 00:26:29,740 and said, "Listen, are we happy as a family to go down this route?" 322 00:26:29,740 --> 00:26:32,620 Helicopter test flying on a day-to-day basis 323 00:26:32,620 --> 00:26:37,500 is probably more dangerous than his training, 324 00:26:37,500 --> 00:26:41,580 but, yeah, going up in a rocket into orbit definitely takes it 325 00:26:41,580 --> 00:26:44,580 to a new level and I think I would have to be 326 00:26:44,580 --> 00:26:46,820 fairly numb to the experience 327 00:26:46,820 --> 00:26:50,260 if I didn't have some emotions attached to that, 328 00:26:50,260 --> 00:26:53,340 but that's fine, you know, we'll be all right with that. 329 00:27:04,700 --> 00:27:08,020 Behind me is the rocket that Kjell, Kimiya and Oleg 330 00:27:08,020 --> 00:27:10,220 will launch into space in three days' time 331 00:27:10,220 --> 00:27:12,020 and it's incredible to think that, 332 00:27:12,020 --> 00:27:14,020 just three days ago, I saw this rocket, 333 00:27:14,020 --> 00:27:16,500 it was in three different parts in two different hangars 334 00:27:16,500 --> 00:27:18,940 so literally over the weekend they've bolted it together 335 00:27:18,940 --> 00:27:21,060 and now it's being rolled out 336 00:27:21,060 --> 00:27:25,580 to the same launchpad that Yuri Gagarin launched from in 1961. 337 00:28:09,180 --> 00:28:12,140 That was the first time I'd been close to a Soyuz rocket 338 00:28:12,140 --> 00:28:15,180 and to see it in the flesh was incredible. 339 00:28:15,180 --> 00:28:18,100 Everyone said, "It's shorter than you expect," 340 00:28:18,100 --> 00:28:21,540 but I think I was ready for that so actually I thought it was 341 00:28:21,540 --> 00:28:25,380 bigger than I expected, I thought it's actually quite a large rocket. 342 00:28:29,860 --> 00:28:34,060 And then to go down into the fire pit and kind of be underneath it 343 00:28:34,060 --> 00:28:36,740 as it lifted it up into position, 344 00:28:36,740 --> 00:28:42,340 that was incredible, just to see the first-stage rocket engines 345 00:28:42,340 --> 00:28:44,260 and being able to look up 346 00:28:44,260 --> 00:28:48,500 and see the whole height of the Soyuz rocket above you - incredible. 347 00:29:02,820 --> 00:29:06,260 It's Wednesday the 22nd of July and it's about half past six. 348 00:29:06,260 --> 00:29:08,420 I've just woken up from a short nap. 349 00:29:08,420 --> 00:29:10,260 The reason I'm having a nap today is 350 00:29:10,260 --> 00:29:14,500 because we're about L minus nine away from the backup launch 351 00:29:14,500 --> 00:29:17,340 so I'm mirroring what the prime crew are doing 352 00:29:17,340 --> 00:29:19,780 and I'll be sharing the last dinner with them 353 00:29:19,780 --> 00:29:23,900 here in the quarantine quarters and then we'll all be on buses. 354 00:29:23,900 --> 00:29:27,100 Prime crew on one bus, backup crew on the other. 355 00:29:27,100 --> 00:29:29,500 So this whole proceeding, from now until launch, 356 00:29:29,500 --> 00:29:31,380 is a really well-oiled machine. 357 00:29:31,380 --> 00:29:34,100 The timings are very particular, everything's set out. 358 00:29:34,100 --> 00:29:37,460 Everything starts on time, everything stops on time. 359 00:30:10,620 --> 00:30:13,380 We followed them out of the bus and then we've seen them off 360 00:30:13,380 --> 00:30:16,460 to the rocket, literally to the bottom of the rocket. 361 00:30:16,460 --> 00:30:20,220 The rocket is incredible. 362 00:30:20,220 --> 00:30:23,140 It's filled with all the cryogenic fuel 363 00:30:23,140 --> 00:30:26,020 so there's frosting all over the first stage 364 00:30:26,020 --> 00:30:30,500 and the second stage of the rocket itself, and that cryogenic fuel 365 00:30:30,500 --> 00:30:35,020 is boiling off, it's making noises and it's really a living beast. 366 00:30:44,820 --> 00:30:47,340 We're about 1.2km away from the launchpad 367 00:30:47,340 --> 00:30:50,820 and it's 25 past one in the morning 368 00:30:50,820 --> 00:30:54,180 and we're waiting for 3.02 in the morning, when we'll see 369 00:30:54,180 --> 00:30:57,700 the rocket behind me launch with Kjell, Kimiya and Oleg on board. 370 00:30:59,420 --> 00:31:01,260 INSTRUCTIONS IN RUSSIAN 371 00:31:50,260 --> 00:31:54,060 I'm back in the crew quarters. It's about five o'clock in the morning. 372 00:31:54,060 --> 00:31:58,220 It's been a long night, but an incredible experience. 373 00:31:58,220 --> 00:32:02,460 It's quite surreal to think that, in less than five months, 374 00:32:02,460 --> 00:32:05,740 myself and my crewmates, Tim and Yuri, 375 00:32:05,740 --> 00:32:09,100 will be in their position and will be doing exactly the same thing. 376 00:32:09,100 --> 00:32:13,060 If anything, tonight has just really increased the level 377 00:32:13,060 --> 00:32:17,900 of excitement and anticipation for the journey I'm about to take. 378 00:32:17,900 --> 00:32:20,860 INDISTINCT RADIO MESSAGES 379 00:33:08,300 --> 00:33:10,100 Over the last six years, 380 00:33:10,100 --> 00:33:13,780 Tim has been a regular visitor to the European Astronaut Centre. 381 00:33:13,780 --> 00:33:18,500 Here, he trained to do science on board the space station 382 00:33:18,500 --> 00:33:21,900 and learn about the effects of space on the human body. 383 00:33:23,260 --> 00:33:25,260 I'm now back in Cologne. 384 00:33:25,260 --> 00:33:28,340 Yeah, I don't normally wear this kind of thing for fun. 385 00:33:28,340 --> 00:33:30,860 Currently, I've got one of those temperature probes 386 00:33:30,860 --> 00:33:32,500 stuck to my chest, one to my forehead 387 00:33:32,500 --> 00:33:36,220 and all the data for 48 hours is being recorded on this monitor here. 388 00:33:38,820 --> 00:33:41,340 Tim's physiology is constantly monitored 389 00:33:41,340 --> 00:33:45,900 and assessed to find out the effects of long-duration space flight. 390 00:33:45,900 --> 00:33:50,340 At the moment, I'm being fitted up for ECG instrumentation 391 00:33:50,340 --> 00:33:54,620 and I'm about to get on the bike machine to do a VO2 max test. 392 00:33:54,620 --> 00:33:59,020 It's our birthday present from the Space Agency, is that you always do 393 00:33:59,020 --> 00:34:02,940 all of these tests and examinations in your birth month. 394 00:34:02,940 --> 00:34:06,420 The VO2 max test pushes the body's aerobic 395 00:34:06,420 --> 00:34:10,020 and cardiovascular systems as hard as possible. 396 00:34:10,020 --> 00:34:13,300 This test is done before and after Tim's mission. 397 00:34:13,300 --> 00:34:17,980 We have a warm-up of three minutes and then every minute, 398 00:34:17,980 --> 00:34:20,140 it's getting harder. 399 00:34:21,380 --> 00:34:27,900 The measure is an EKG reading, the heartrate and CO2 exhalation 400 00:34:27,900 --> 00:34:31,580 and O2 that comes in your body. 401 00:34:34,820 --> 00:34:38,540 Please just give with your thumb, OK, or not. 402 00:34:38,540 --> 00:34:41,740 Don't talk, please, because it disturbs the measurement. 403 00:34:44,340 --> 00:34:47,860 ..funf, vier, drei, zwo, eins. 404 00:34:47,860 --> 00:34:50,900 In terms of human physiology alone, 405 00:34:50,900 --> 00:34:54,940 I've signed up for 23 experiments on my body 406 00:34:54,940 --> 00:34:58,420 and so we're using the space station as a great environment 407 00:34:58,420 --> 00:35:01,940 to learn more about how the body changes in microgravity 408 00:35:01,940 --> 00:35:04,580 during long-duration space flight. 409 00:35:06,420 --> 00:35:09,060 Everything fine with your legs? OK. 410 00:35:09,060 --> 00:35:10,260 OK. 411 00:35:11,820 --> 00:35:17,140 ..funf, vier, drei, zwo, eins. Und die nachste Stufe. 412 00:35:17,140 --> 00:35:22,620 300. Wow, good one! Very, very good. 413 00:35:22,620 --> 00:35:24,740 Keep speed. More speed is needed. 414 00:35:27,700 --> 00:35:29,300 Yes. 415 00:35:31,300 --> 00:35:33,540 Keep on, keep on. 416 00:35:33,540 --> 00:35:37,580 Finish and recovery. Great job! 417 00:35:38,420 --> 00:35:40,340 He's perfect. 418 00:35:40,340 --> 00:35:44,700 Perfect EKG reading and a fast heartrate recovery, 419 00:35:44,700 --> 00:35:48,140 all this indicates that he's in very good shape. 420 00:35:48,140 --> 00:35:49,780 Enjoyed that? 421 00:35:49,780 --> 00:35:51,220 LAUGHTER 422 00:35:51,220 --> 00:35:53,620 It was a wonderful way to start the morning. 423 00:36:08,580 --> 00:36:10,900 Tim's physiology is studied closely 424 00:36:10,900 --> 00:36:14,780 because space flight has an enormous impact on an astronaut's health. 425 00:36:18,580 --> 00:36:22,700 I'm Samantha Cristoforetti, I'm a European Space Agency astronaut 426 00:36:22,700 --> 00:36:24,860 of Italian nationality and I'm also a pilot 427 00:36:24,860 --> 00:36:28,820 and officer in the Italian air force and I recently returned 428 00:36:28,820 --> 00:36:33,060 from a 200-day expedition on the International Space Station. 429 00:36:37,380 --> 00:36:41,820 The best thing about life on board, I would say that 430 00:36:41,820 --> 00:36:45,700 weightlessness is just the most amazing sensation you can think of, 431 00:36:45,700 --> 00:36:50,980 the sense of freedom, of owning your body 432 00:36:50,980 --> 00:36:53,540 and owning space in the three dimensions. 433 00:36:56,620 --> 00:37:00,500 Although it may be the highlight of an astronaut's time 434 00:37:00,500 --> 00:37:04,940 on the space station, weightlessness is a major medical problem. 435 00:37:09,140 --> 00:37:12,820 Here on Earth, during the entire human evolutionary period, 436 00:37:12,820 --> 00:37:14,780 we've had 1G. 437 00:37:14,780 --> 00:37:17,740 Take it up into space, of course, and everything changes. 438 00:37:19,620 --> 00:37:21,020 Our muscles and our bones 439 00:37:21,020 --> 00:37:23,860 are not getting the same stimulus that they would do 440 00:37:23,860 --> 00:37:26,580 if we were just walking around all day here on Earth 441 00:37:26,580 --> 00:37:29,540 so we start to lose calcium, bone density decreases 442 00:37:29,540 --> 00:37:31,260 and our muscle mass reduces 443 00:37:31,260 --> 00:37:34,220 because our muscle fibres are not being stimulated. 444 00:37:35,500 --> 00:37:39,260 Now, to try and stop that happening too much, we exercise. 445 00:37:41,300 --> 00:37:44,380 We have amazing facilities now on the space station 446 00:37:44,380 --> 00:37:46,180 in terms of physical fitness. 447 00:37:46,180 --> 00:37:47,860 We have a machine just called ARED - 448 00:37:47,860 --> 00:37:50,620 the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device, 449 00:37:50,620 --> 00:37:52,500 which is a wonderful machine. 450 00:37:52,500 --> 00:37:55,340 It basically allows you to do weightlifting 451 00:37:55,340 --> 00:37:57,460 with pretty big weights. 452 00:37:57,460 --> 00:38:00,580 It's based on vacuum cylinders and you can set the resistance 453 00:38:00,580 --> 00:38:03,740 and you can do stuff like squats, deadlifts, 454 00:38:03,740 --> 00:38:08,540 push-ups and all kinds of resistive exercise. 455 00:38:09,740 --> 00:38:12,980 Also the heart has a very easy time and it shrinks, 456 00:38:12,980 --> 00:38:16,460 as any muscle would shrink if it's not exercised fully, 457 00:38:16,460 --> 00:38:19,060 so we try and do cardiovascular exercise 458 00:38:19,060 --> 00:38:21,500 to try and prevent that from happening. 459 00:38:22,700 --> 00:38:27,060 We have a treadmill which is called T2 that works with a harness 460 00:38:27,060 --> 00:38:31,580 that keeps you pushed down on the treadmill so you can actually run. 461 00:38:31,580 --> 00:38:35,500 I enjoyed it because it was a break from actual work 462 00:38:35,500 --> 00:38:40,740 so at least I knew that at least two hours during the day, 463 00:38:40,740 --> 00:38:43,860 I will be able to take a break, and the biomedical engineers 464 00:38:43,860 --> 00:38:47,300 and the flight surgeons really push for us to have those two hours. 465 00:38:51,140 --> 00:38:54,420 The main purpose of my mission, the main purpose of being in space, 466 00:38:54,420 --> 00:38:57,460 is to conduct and run scientific experiments. 467 00:38:58,980 --> 00:39:00,580 That doesn't mean that I need to be 468 00:39:00,580 --> 00:39:02,460 an expert on every science experiment. 469 00:39:02,460 --> 00:39:04,980 Clearly, with all the training that we have to do, 470 00:39:04,980 --> 00:39:08,980 we couldn't possibly also be an expert on all the science. 471 00:39:08,980 --> 00:39:13,700 We do have to know how to run them and to work with the ground teams 472 00:39:13,700 --> 00:39:17,460 to make sure the experiments are conducted accurately and correctly. 473 00:39:17,460 --> 00:39:19,900 Here is your breakfast. 474 00:39:19,900 --> 00:39:23,700 This is your space food. Swordfish for breakfast, lovely! 475 00:39:23,700 --> 00:39:26,540 We know exactly the energy content of those. 476 00:39:26,540 --> 00:39:30,140 We're using the space station as a great environment to learn 477 00:39:30,140 --> 00:39:32,620 more about the amount of energy the body uses 478 00:39:32,620 --> 00:39:35,460 to a very accurate level so that we can calculate 479 00:39:35,460 --> 00:39:37,500 how much food an astronaut will need 480 00:39:37,500 --> 00:39:40,940 when you go to a long-duration mission to Mars. 481 00:39:40,940 --> 00:39:42,820 You have to provide a urine sample. 482 00:39:42,820 --> 00:39:45,020 Being a human guinea pig, 483 00:39:45,020 --> 00:39:48,740 if you like, felt quite strange at first, but you rapidly get used 484 00:39:48,740 --> 00:39:52,340 to the fact that you've handed your body over to science, really... 485 00:39:53,900 --> 00:39:58,020 ..be it taking blood, urine, faeces, saliva - all these things. 486 00:39:59,420 --> 00:40:02,420 It's a very privileged position to be in, to go to space, 487 00:40:02,420 --> 00:40:06,740 so I certainly don't mind using my body as a human guinea pig. 488 00:40:06,740 --> 00:40:10,180 It's just another aspect of being an astronaut. 489 00:40:10,180 --> 00:40:13,540 Thank you. 490 00:40:13,540 --> 00:40:16,260 Yeah, so that's going to become a regular feature 491 00:40:16,260 --> 00:40:19,220 of life aboard the space station. 492 00:40:19,220 --> 00:40:23,180 Six, five, four, three, two... 493 00:40:23,180 --> 00:40:25,660 Following the failed supply rocket in April, 494 00:40:25,660 --> 00:40:30,100 the next was planned for late June, launching from Cape Canaveral. 495 00:40:30,100 --> 00:40:33,740 Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. 496 00:40:44,340 --> 00:40:48,860 Altitude - 32km, speed - 1kmps. 497 00:40:50,180 --> 00:40:52,340 Vehicle on course, on track. 498 00:40:56,580 --> 00:40:59,740 And we appear to have had a launch vehicle failure. 499 00:41:03,580 --> 00:41:06,420 Since 2000, there have only been four 500 00:41:06,420 --> 00:41:09,500 supply rocket failures to the space station. 501 00:41:09,500 --> 00:41:12,140 Two of those have occurred this year. 502 00:41:14,460 --> 00:41:17,380 Today was a difficult day for the space programme. 503 00:41:17,380 --> 00:41:20,740 This morning, I was watching the SpaceX 7 launch 504 00:41:20,740 --> 00:41:24,340 and I've been following the progress of SpaceX 7 quite closely 505 00:41:24,340 --> 00:41:27,820 because it's got some hardware on board that will be used 506 00:41:27,820 --> 00:41:31,740 during my mission, and it was very sad and disappointing 507 00:41:31,740 --> 00:41:33,100 to see the rocket explode 508 00:41:33,100 --> 00:41:35,300 after about two and a half minutes of flight. 509 00:41:35,300 --> 00:41:38,940 I know how disappointed the team will be, not just at SpaceX, 510 00:41:38,940 --> 00:41:41,580 but also everybody who has been working hard 511 00:41:41,580 --> 00:41:43,420 in preparing those payloads. 512 00:41:43,420 --> 00:41:45,740 There was an international docking adapter 513 00:41:45,740 --> 00:41:48,300 and there was also a spacesuit. 514 00:41:48,300 --> 00:41:51,420 In fact, it was a size medium spacesuit, which, if I get the opportunity 515 00:41:51,420 --> 00:41:54,420 to do a spacewalk, that would have been the spacesuit I'd be wearing. 516 00:41:54,420 --> 00:42:00,020 It just goes to show that getting to space is really difficult. 517 00:42:22,340 --> 00:42:25,940 Every piece of equipment sent to the space station 518 00:42:25,940 --> 00:42:29,740 is rigorously tested to qualify as space hardware. 519 00:42:29,740 --> 00:42:33,220 One of the most complex pieces is the EMU. 520 00:42:35,860 --> 00:42:41,620 EMU stands for Extravehicular Manoeuvrability Unit, ie a spacesuit. 521 00:42:41,620 --> 00:42:45,980 Now, this has to keep you alive outside the space station. 522 00:42:48,420 --> 00:42:51,660 It has to protect you against the risk of micrometeorites 523 00:42:51,660 --> 00:42:53,740 impacting you at huge velocity. 524 00:42:53,740 --> 00:42:57,020 It has to protect you from the extreme thermal environment, 525 00:42:57,020 --> 00:42:59,620 going from shadow to sunlight. 526 00:43:00,780 --> 00:43:03,860 And also it has to provide a life support system 527 00:43:03,860 --> 00:43:06,340 so it has to scrub all the CO2 that you're breathing. 528 00:43:06,340 --> 00:43:09,860 It has to provide you oxygen, it has to pressurise the suit 529 00:43:09,860 --> 00:43:11,980 and also water for you to drink. 530 00:43:13,180 --> 00:43:15,940 The vacuum chamber is one of the training elements 531 00:43:15,940 --> 00:43:18,540 we have to do spacewalks. 532 00:43:18,540 --> 00:43:22,740 The value of this is that it is the first time 533 00:43:22,740 --> 00:43:25,580 you're actually in a vacuum in a spacesuit. 534 00:43:25,580 --> 00:43:29,540 It gives you the experience of having been in a vacuum 535 00:43:29,540 --> 00:43:31,900 and also gives you the confidence in the suit 536 00:43:31,900 --> 00:43:36,500 that, when you go into space, it is going to protect you 100%. 537 00:43:38,180 --> 00:43:40,660 So, what we've got here are a class one set 538 00:43:40,660 --> 00:43:44,500 of EVA gloves for space flight. 539 00:43:44,500 --> 00:43:50,220 And, if I just peel back this material here, 540 00:43:50,220 --> 00:43:52,300 you can notice there's an electrical connector. 541 00:43:52,300 --> 00:43:55,780 The reason there's an electrical connector is because the fingertips 542 00:43:55,780 --> 00:43:59,500 actually have heaters in them and, as you go from sun to shade, 543 00:43:59,500 --> 00:44:01,580 it gets very cold 544 00:44:01,580 --> 00:44:04,780 and, if we're going into shade, we can turn our glove heaters on. 545 00:44:04,780 --> 00:44:08,020 The Russians have three sizes - small, medium and large - 546 00:44:08,020 --> 00:44:10,700 and the US have about 45 sizes. 547 00:44:10,700 --> 00:44:13,100 These gloves are really tailored to your hand 548 00:44:13,100 --> 00:44:16,980 and it's very important because we need to do tasks 549 00:44:16,980 --> 00:44:18,820 which require a lot of fidelity, 550 00:44:18,820 --> 00:44:21,300 sometimes using small tools and clips, 551 00:44:21,300 --> 00:44:24,900 and if you don't have a good fit, it's impossible. 552 00:44:24,900 --> 00:44:26,500 I find it really exciting, yeah, 553 00:44:26,500 --> 00:44:29,660 handling all this stuff - the helmet and the spacesuit. 554 00:44:29,660 --> 00:44:32,220 It kind of gives you a real buzz of excitement, 555 00:44:32,220 --> 00:44:34,140 knowing this is space hardware. 556 00:44:39,580 --> 00:44:42,620 The most interesting aspects of us working on board the station 557 00:44:42,620 --> 00:44:46,260 and actually training for space flight is the fact 558 00:44:46,260 --> 00:44:48,420 that it is truly a team sport. 559 00:44:48,420 --> 00:44:50,500 When we do spacewalks, 560 00:44:50,500 --> 00:44:53,060 you are definitely relying on your buddy outside. 561 00:45:03,500 --> 00:45:06,020 Open the thermal cover and egress. 562 00:45:06,020 --> 00:45:08,820 OK, the thermal cover is open and egressing. 563 00:45:08,820 --> 00:45:12,500 So, my first memory of opening the hatch 564 00:45:12,500 --> 00:45:16,460 and looking down at the planet that's moving five miles a second 565 00:45:16,460 --> 00:45:19,940 was, "Holy mackerel! This doesn't exactly feel right." 566 00:45:21,580 --> 00:45:23,340 Dave Wolf, my EVA partner, said, 567 00:45:23,340 --> 00:45:25,740 "Hey, Tim, take a second and look out to your left." 568 00:45:25,740 --> 00:45:28,500 That's a great idea. 569 00:45:28,500 --> 00:45:30,860 'And so I'm hanging on and looking out at the planet, 570 00:45:30,860 --> 00:45:32,380 'but it's a lot to take in. 571 00:45:32,380 --> 00:45:35,220 'It's a lot for your mind to process - that you're outside, 572 00:45:35,220 --> 00:45:39,340 'in a vacuum, looking down at our planet in the black of space.' 573 00:45:40,340 --> 00:45:42,700 It gives you pause. 574 00:45:45,740 --> 00:45:47,180 Looking good, there, Tim. 575 00:45:47,180 --> 00:45:50,020 Just take your time getting in position. 576 00:45:50,020 --> 00:45:51,420 I'm in a good position now. 577 00:46:12,420 --> 00:46:15,820 Johnson Space Center is an incredible place to work - 578 00:46:15,820 --> 00:46:18,300 a lot of history, a lot of nostalgia - 579 00:46:18,300 --> 00:46:22,540 but the office I'm working in now is the same office the astronauts 580 00:46:22,540 --> 00:46:25,660 were working in during the Apollo era. 581 00:46:29,340 --> 00:46:31,460 Everything is bigger in Texas 582 00:46:31,460 --> 00:46:35,300 and so you obviously get used to the freeway, the trucks, the lifestyle, 583 00:46:35,300 --> 00:46:37,980 but I do miss the UK. 584 00:46:37,980 --> 00:46:40,220 The one sad part of my training 585 00:46:40,220 --> 00:46:42,860 is that there is no training in the UK, 586 00:46:42,860 --> 00:46:45,900 so, for the whole two and a half years of my assigned flow, 587 00:46:45,900 --> 00:46:50,340 up until launch, I've kind of had to beg, borrow and steal time 588 00:46:50,340 --> 00:46:54,260 from my schedule to get back to the UK to visit friends and family 589 00:46:54,260 --> 00:46:57,860 so I've managed it for a few vacations, so I do miss it. 590 00:47:09,300 --> 00:47:13,100 With launch less than three months away, Tim rehearses spacewalks 591 00:47:13,100 --> 00:47:16,980 he could make during his time on board the space station. 592 00:47:20,220 --> 00:47:24,180 So, at the moment, it's 6.30 in the morning 593 00:47:24,180 --> 00:47:27,740 and this morning is the last run that I have in the pool. 594 00:47:27,740 --> 00:47:33,140 It takes about an hour to get ready. 595 00:47:33,140 --> 00:47:35,460 This is going to get attached to my spacesuit 596 00:47:35,460 --> 00:47:37,900 so I want to make sure that I've got all of my tools, 597 00:47:37,900 --> 00:47:40,380 all of my equipment is exactly as I want it 598 00:47:40,380 --> 00:47:41,780 for the six-hour run today. 599 00:47:41,780 --> 00:47:45,500 We're starting off working together on cable laying and, in fact, 600 00:47:45,500 --> 00:47:48,380 four hours of my day today is cable laying, which is 601 00:47:48,380 --> 00:47:51,780 probably one of the hardest things you can do in the spacesuit. 602 00:47:51,780 --> 00:47:55,420 It's really finger intense and so I'll be tired by the end of today. 603 00:47:55,420 --> 00:47:58,140 It's going to be a good run today, a good workout. 604 00:48:10,420 --> 00:48:13,020 So, what does it feel like to put on that suit? 605 00:48:13,020 --> 00:48:16,300 Well, firstly, the suit is pretty difficult to get into. 606 00:48:16,300 --> 00:48:19,700 It's like a small caving expedition just to get into it 607 00:48:19,700 --> 00:48:21,540 and it's a very tight fit. 608 00:48:21,540 --> 00:48:24,500 Although it looks very big and bulky, actually inside the suit 609 00:48:24,500 --> 00:48:26,820 you're quite crammed in there, which is a good thing. 610 00:48:26,820 --> 00:48:29,100 You don't want to have too much room to move around, 611 00:48:29,100 --> 00:48:33,340 so I like to have the suit pressing hard against my shoulders here. 612 00:48:33,340 --> 00:48:34,980 It keeps me in one spot. 613 00:48:43,140 --> 00:48:47,340 It was great. I love my suit fit. It takes a long time to get it right. 614 00:49:20,700 --> 00:49:23,740 There are probably three activities that are really high risk 615 00:49:23,740 --> 00:49:27,180 for space flight - it's the launch, the re-entry and spacewalking. 616 00:49:27,180 --> 00:49:31,060 It's one of the few times where, as an astronaut, 617 00:49:31,060 --> 00:49:34,060 you are completely responsible for your own safety. 618 00:49:35,740 --> 00:49:37,540 So, you really are out there on a limb. 619 00:49:37,540 --> 00:49:39,580 You need to be able to take care of yourself 620 00:49:39,580 --> 00:49:42,820 and understand exactly what's going on. 621 00:49:42,820 --> 00:49:44,420 INDISTINCT 622 00:49:45,940 --> 00:49:49,180 The hand rail right by the connector panel? 623 00:49:49,180 --> 00:49:51,980 Can you reach the hand rail on the top there, 624 00:49:51,980 --> 00:49:55,380 between the trunnion pin and that bracket? 625 00:49:55,380 --> 00:49:58,580 Cut across between the two? Correct. 626 00:49:58,580 --> 00:50:03,540 'It's really just two white suits out in the vastness of space.' 627 00:50:03,540 --> 00:50:05,980 INDISTINCT 628 00:50:05,980 --> 00:50:09,340 Most people you talk to who have actually done a spacewalk 629 00:50:09,340 --> 00:50:14,660 find it to be as mentally exhausting as it is physically exhausting 630 00:50:14,660 --> 00:50:15,700 because you're in space, 631 00:50:15,700 --> 00:50:18,420 you're having to think 1,000 times faster 632 00:50:18,420 --> 00:50:20,580 in terms of where your hands are going 633 00:50:20,580 --> 00:50:22,420 and the environment around you. 634 00:50:25,060 --> 00:50:26,500 Now 15 years old, 635 00:50:26,500 --> 00:50:29,620 the International Space Station needs regular maintenance, 636 00:50:29,620 --> 00:50:35,620 and for external repairs the only way to reach them is on a spacewalk. 637 00:50:35,620 --> 00:50:41,060 Has anybody reached it between these hand rails? 638 00:50:41,060 --> 00:50:45,100 I actually approach the MBL run as if I was doing a flying sortie. 639 00:50:45,100 --> 00:50:47,420 You think about a sortie, you choreograph it, 640 00:50:47,420 --> 00:50:50,220 you fly it the night before you actually fly the sortie, 641 00:50:50,220 --> 00:50:51,900 and it's the same in the MBL. 642 00:50:51,900 --> 00:50:55,300 through exactly what I'll be doing 643 00:50:55,300 --> 00:50:56,620 at what stage to the detail 644 00:50:56,620 --> 00:50:59,620 of where I'm going to be putting my hands on each handhold, 645 00:50:59,620 --> 00:51:01,820 which handholds might be a difficult reach. 646 00:51:01,820 --> 00:51:03,820 How's it going, Tim? 647 00:51:03,820 --> 00:51:07,340 It's going good, thanks, Tim. How you doing? Wonderful. 648 00:51:07,340 --> 00:51:10,180 'These guys are really motoring through there. 649 00:51:10,180 --> 00:51:15,420 'It's a pretty hand-intensive task - laying cables, putting down lights. 650 00:51:15,420 --> 00:51:16,460 'You're in that suit, 651 00:51:16,460 --> 00:51:18,980 'you're against pressure with every motion you make,' 652 00:51:18,980 --> 00:51:21,300 you're constantly contracting your muscles 653 00:51:21,300 --> 00:51:25,940 so they're probably tired of gripping things at the moment! 654 00:51:25,940 --> 00:51:29,220 Yeah, I'm going to have to go back and untie that cable. 655 00:51:30,740 --> 00:51:34,500 You have a go to release the waist tether from yourself. 656 00:51:36,140 --> 00:51:37,740 It's really one of those tasks 657 00:51:37,740 --> 00:51:40,620 where you can't afford to have a slip in concentration. 658 00:51:42,300 --> 00:51:45,660 If you just forget once to put down your local tether, 659 00:51:45,660 --> 00:51:48,980 which is what keeps you attached to the space station, 660 00:51:48,980 --> 00:51:52,300 and then suddenly turn around, start working on a tool bag 661 00:51:52,300 --> 00:51:55,460 or working on a piece of equipment, let go of the hand rails 662 00:51:55,460 --> 00:51:57,220 and then, before you know it, 663 00:51:57,220 --> 00:52:00,820 you're floating off space station, and that's a really bad day. 664 00:52:05,620 --> 00:52:10,140 Houston, EV2 is off-structure at the airlock and drifting. 665 00:52:10,140 --> 00:52:13,660 Reaching for HCM. SAFER handle deployed. 666 00:52:13,660 --> 00:52:15,340 Waiting for motion to cease. 667 00:52:16,580 --> 00:52:18,380 Powering on. 668 00:52:19,500 --> 00:52:21,740 SAFER is the Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue 669 00:52:21,740 --> 00:52:24,500 and it's the jetpack that the crew members are installing 670 00:52:24,500 --> 00:52:27,140 on their spacesuit and it allows them 671 00:52:27,140 --> 00:52:30,460 to rescue themselves in case they ever come off structure. 672 00:52:30,460 --> 00:52:32,580 So basically there's six jets on every corner - 673 00:52:32,580 --> 00:52:34,300 the top two and the bottom two corners - 674 00:52:34,300 --> 00:52:36,980 and those six thrusters allow the crew member 675 00:52:36,980 --> 00:52:40,340 to manoeuvre themselves in space and bring them back to space station. 676 00:52:40,340 --> 00:52:42,700 Pitching up. 677 00:52:42,700 --> 00:52:45,580 Airlock identified. 678 00:52:45,580 --> 00:52:47,460 It feels incredibly real. 679 00:52:47,460 --> 00:52:50,100 Plus X, ten seconds. 680 00:52:52,540 --> 00:52:53,860 Ceasing X. 681 00:52:53,860 --> 00:52:56,100 N2 level - 35%. 682 00:52:58,220 --> 00:52:59,940 Yeah, you get a real sense 683 00:52:59,940 --> 00:53:02,060 of actually being outside the space station. 684 00:53:02,060 --> 00:53:04,300 Good closure rate. 685 00:53:04,300 --> 00:53:07,300 'People might think you can use this to fly around space station. 686 00:53:07,300 --> 00:53:08,820 'You don't have that much time.' 687 00:53:08,820 --> 00:53:10,820 How are you doing on gas? 688 00:53:10,820 --> 00:53:12,820 Pretty low on gas, I'm at 6%. 689 00:53:14,860 --> 00:53:17,580 Of course, if any astronaut finds themselves off-structure 690 00:53:17,580 --> 00:53:20,180 and fails to return to the space station, 691 00:53:20,180 --> 00:53:22,700 there's no other way to retrieve them. 692 00:53:24,460 --> 00:53:26,420 Braking. Negative X. 693 00:53:27,860 --> 00:53:29,980 Negative X. 694 00:53:29,980 --> 00:53:33,380 I've got the hand rail. All right, Tim, you made it back to station. 695 00:53:33,380 --> 00:53:34,860 Good job. Wow! APPLAUSE 696 00:53:34,860 --> 00:53:36,820 That's pretty impressive. 697 00:53:37,820 --> 00:53:39,460 That's good. 698 00:53:39,460 --> 00:53:41,780 Tim's been great. He didn't need much training. 699 00:53:41,780 --> 00:53:44,140 I gave him a few hints and tricks that you wouldn't know 700 00:53:44,140 --> 00:53:46,580 unless you actually use a SAFER, 701 00:53:46,580 --> 00:53:49,340 but as far as the conceptual theory part of it, 702 00:53:49,340 --> 00:53:50,820 he understood right away. 703 00:53:50,820 --> 00:53:53,620 There's very few times when he's not made it back. 704 00:54:03,540 --> 00:54:06,460 Daddy! Daddy! 705 00:54:06,460 --> 00:54:08,500 Daddy! 706 00:54:13,620 --> 00:54:17,180 The prospect of doing an EVA, an actual spacewalk, of course, 707 00:54:17,180 --> 00:54:20,460 I think for any astronaut is the absolute icing on the cake. 708 00:54:20,460 --> 00:54:23,580 It's a real dream come true. 709 00:54:23,580 --> 00:54:26,140 You shouldn't really get your hopes up and, 710 00:54:26,140 --> 00:54:29,020 even if there's an EVA scheduled, all sorts of things can change 711 00:54:29,020 --> 00:54:31,460 and, until that hatch opens, 712 00:54:31,460 --> 00:54:34,300 you can't really know for sure you're going to get a spacewalk, 713 00:54:34,300 --> 00:54:37,340 but of course it's something that I'm really hoping for. 714 00:54:48,100 --> 00:54:49,940 It was good, it was as expected. 715 00:54:49,940 --> 00:54:52,860 It was tough, it was like I've been in the gym all day! 716 00:54:54,620 --> 00:54:56,420 Thanks for your help. 717 00:55:11,380 --> 00:55:14,900 Good morning. How are you? Good, thanks very much. Good. 718 00:55:14,900 --> 00:55:17,980 Check in to Moscow. 719 00:55:17,980 --> 00:55:21,220 It's Sunday the 8th of November, about 7.30 in the morning, 720 00:55:21,220 --> 00:55:23,460 and I'm at T5, London Heathrow. 721 00:55:23,460 --> 00:55:25,540 I've just checked in for my flight to Moscow. 722 00:55:25,540 --> 00:55:26,900 I'm really looking forward 723 00:55:26,900 --> 00:55:29,380 to getting on the way now, focusing on the mission. 724 00:55:29,380 --> 00:55:31,980 Rebecca and the boys are still back in Houston, 725 00:55:31,980 --> 00:55:33,820 but I'll get to catch up with them 726 00:55:33,820 --> 00:55:36,140 in about two and a half weeks in Star City. 727 00:55:36,140 --> 00:55:37,860 So, goodbye, UK! 728 00:55:58,860 --> 00:56:02,660 Tim has trained for six years to become an astronaut. 729 00:56:02,660 --> 00:56:06,100 Now, the time for his launch is fast approaching. 730 00:56:09,460 --> 00:56:11,420 I'm immensely proud to be British. 731 00:56:11,420 --> 00:56:13,700 I've always been very proud to wear the union flag 732 00:56:13,700 --> 00:56:18,300 because you're representing your country in a unique position 733 00:56:18,300 --> 00:56:22,780 and so that puts some pressure on to make sure you come up to scratch. 734 00:56:42,060 --> 00:56:46,740 I've never launched on a Soyuz, but I've seen several Soyuz launches. 735 00:56:46,740 --> 00:56:49,580 It's moving to watch a launch. 736 00:56:49,580 --> 00:56:53,060 It's also a pretty daunting thing, as well, 737 00:56:53,060 --> 00:56:55,060 because we've been up close to that rocket. 738 00:56:55,060 --> 00:56:58,100 It's a very powerful machine. 739 00:56:58,100 --> 00:57:00,140 You know, full of risk. 740 00:57:03,420 --> 00:57:07,260 Our families make huge sacrifices for what we're about to do. 741 00:57:07,260 --> 00:57:09,100 Daddy! 742 00:57:09,100 --> 00:57:13,300 'I'm going to miss them hugely and that's hard at times' 743 00:57:13,300 --> 00:57:15,780 because often when I'll talk to the boys, 744 00:57:15,780 --> 00:57:17,780 they're counting down the number of sleeps 745 00:57:17,780 --> 00:57:19,420 as to when they'll see Daddy again. 746 00:57:19,420 --> 00:57:23,100 Would you like to go in one of these spacesuits and go underwater? Yes. 747 00:57:23,100 --> 00:57:24,340 Yeah? 748 00:57:24,340 --> 00:57:26,580 They will miss him desperately 749 00:57:26,580 --> 00:57:28,380 and we'll just try to make the time pass 750 00:57:28,380 --> 00:57:30,300 as quickly as possible for them. 751 00:57:30,300 --> 00:57:34,860 I know Tim won't want it to pass too fast, but, yeah, it will be fine. 752 00:57:43,020 --> 00:57:46,740 It's Tuesday the 24th of November and exactly three weeks today 753 00:57:46,740 --> 00:57:49,500 until I launch into space and my family... 754 00:57:49,500 --> 00:57:51,820 THOMAS SHOUTS Ha, Thomas! 755 00:57:53,020 --> 00:57:55,380 I'm back in Star City and the family are here, 756 00:57:55,380 --> 00:57:58,300 so just enjoying some great time with them 757 00:57:58,300 --> 00:58:02,100 before heading down to Baikonur for the final two weeks in quarantine. 758 00:58:02,100 --> 00:58:05,340 And, although I'll be missing Christmas this year, as you can see, 759 00:58:05,340 --> 00:58:09,220 Christmas has come early to Star City, so what better time to enjoy 760 00:58:09,220 --> 00:58:12,860 some fun in the snow before this incredible adventure into space?