[Closed] Tim the Spaceman

yes!

just finished chris hadfield's book so this is good stuff

Britain's first IS[s]I[/s]S astronaut

So-called astronaut. 😀

1 minute!

Ground Control to Mister Tim
Commencing countdown, engines on ....

and hes off

bit late but live here
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Principia/Principia_live

Live here too:> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/science-environment-34985274

How interesting is Chris Hadfield, answering Dara's questions with such enthusiasm! Queuing his book for my next read after this.

There we go Tim is now officially and astronaut.

This book is good on the going into space and the Space Shuttle program - Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut by Richard "Mike" Mullane.

If you want a really brave launch then dig out the info on the STS-1 Space Shuttle test flight.

Brilliant stuff!! 😀

Can't believe they cut away from the floaty pen

Can't believe they cut away from the floaty pen

How interesting is Chris Hadfield, answering Dara's questions with such enthusiasm!

Funny how they've been launching that rocket regularly for years and yet this is the first time I've been bothered with it. Most excellent. Great presenting team.

That was quite interesting to watch. The Soyuz seems to be a less complicated launch compared to the shuttle.

The Soyuz seems to be a less complicated launch compared to the shuttle.

It's the Russian way. The Americans spent millions developing a pen that would work in zero gravity. The Russians took a pencil.

Urban legend that.

Urban legend that.

I suspected it might be but it still works well as an allegorical tale.

BBC News channel stayed with the pen and you saw it go from pointy pen to floaty pen!

Missed it, excited by it but meetings got in the way..

Great to hear it's all gone well..

I remember the first British Tim in space, back in '73:
[img] [/img]

[url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/picture-galleries/11691839/Russias-abandoned-space-shuttles-at-the-Baikonur-Cosmodrome-in-pictures.html ]not quit the russian way.[/url]

Glad tim got off OK.

Apparently the US military in particular the Air Force and Army were perfectly happy with rocket launches and still used them at times. However, NASA had a different agenda and followed the Space Shuttle route, which as it turned out never full filled its promise of safe, cheap space flight. Kinda ironic that Russia were going down the Space Shuttle route until the collapse of the USSR killed it off.

[img] [/img]

It was ace. 8)
We popped it on, with this in the background.

Does anyone know why he (Major Tim) keeps getting referred to in the media as Britain's "first astronaut" - I'm assuming there's some technicality on which people are judging Helen Sharman's trip to somehow not quite count?

No Idea. Piers Sellers has flown on 3 shuttle missions also.

She has been mentioned a few times in coverage:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/tim-peake-uk-astronaut-to-follow-pioneer-helen-sharman-into-space-a6773721.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35056284

But yeah some people seem to have reported "first Brit on ISS" as first "Brit in Space", which is plainly wrong.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/science/tim-peake-first-british-astronaut-7015232

Piers Sellers

I'd never heard of him until a minute a go, but to be fair I can see the logic of excluding him since he became a naturalised US citizen in 1991 and first went into space in 2002?

Does anyone know why he (Major Tim) keeps getting referred to in the media as Britain's "first astronaut" - I'm assuming there's some technicality on which people are judging Helen Sharman's trip to somehow not quite count?

Helen Sharman was funded by the Russians and private funding, while Major Tim has been funded by the UK, through the ESA

Piers Sellers has flown on 3 shuttle missions also

Piers became a US citizen so that he could become an astronaut. He is British by birth and sounds like a Brit.

(Note to self - I really must get out more!)

Edit: Tooooo Late

Sellers was on the ISS too, but not for a 6 month tour. He helped to build it.

I'd never heard of him until a minute a go, but to be fair I can see the logic of excluding him since he became a naturalised US citizen in 1991 and first went into space in 2002?

He's more British than Greg Rusedski and Kevin Pietersen. So, I'm letting him in.

Maybe the reason is that "3rd Brit in space" isn't such a great headline. Who was the 3rd man on the moon*?

*No cheating.

Oh, having followed GrahamS's link it seems this is a thing, with a hashtag and everything. I thought I was coming to this with something fresh, turns out that rocketship I was jumping onto was really a bandwagon.

Anyway, Helen Sharman - best remembered not just for dropping the torch at the opening of the Word Student Games...

Piers Sellers has flown on 3 shuttle missions also

[img] [/img]

Sellers was on the ISS too, but not for a 6 month tour. He helped to build it.

I think he fitted the skirting boards.

Helen Sharman was funded by the Russians and private funding, while Major Tim has been funded by the UK, through the ESA

I think I've read this somewhere else as the reason one is a "proper astronaut" but the other, er, isn't - I can only assume I'm being thick (it's usually a reasonable hypothesis) but to me "being an astronaut" is about going into space and doing "space[s]man[/s]person" type stuff - why doesn't it count if it's Russian / private money that puts the fuel in the tank?

Is it really such a big deal?

As some people have already mentioned.

Dr Helen Patricia Sharman OBE FRSC,became the first Briton in space and the first woman to visit the Mir space station

I suspected it might be but it still works well as an allegorical tale.

It's a bit circular though isn't it? Doesn't the whole "the Americans were trying to be too clever" bit rest largely on the pencil myth in the first place?

Is it really such a big deal?

Just because someone has done something similar before, doesn't mean to say it's not still a big deal. Still the first British person to go up in 20 odd years, so yes, I'd say it is a big deal.

Anything to do with space travel is really, even if many people have become quite complacent about it.

If you haven't seen it before, watch this fascinating tour of the (mock up) of the ISS. Very cool.

Still the first British person to go up in 20 odd years, so yes, I'd say it is a big deal.

Don't forget Michael Foale.

The first Briton to do a spacewalk, a bit of a hero during his time on MIR and the commander of the ISS for 6 months in 2003.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Foale

The difference of course, is that Tim Peake has a union jack on his spacesuit rather than the stars and stripes. I don't know what flag Helen Sharmanhad?

Helen Sharman wore a union flag. Although her flight wasn't particularly long, she was funded by private enterprise as opposed to state sponsorship.

She remains a hero of mine.

Third man on the moon? Easy, Charles Conrad followed in fourth place by Alan Bean.

I had pictures of all twelve lunar astronauts on my wall as a kid.

The list of British born astronauts isn't as shabby as you'd think...

Piers Sellers
Nicholas Patrick
Michael Foale
Helen Sharman
Richard Garriott

Helen Sharman wore a union flag. Although her flight wasn't particularly long, she was funded by private enterprise as opposed to state sponsorship.

So is that what it boils down to - why I have read now in several places, that Major Tim is Britain's first "official" astronaut because the British government has had some involvement? So Helen Sharman isn't "officially" a British astronaut, even though she's

a) British

and

b) flew into space, on a space ship?

I still don't get how being "an astronaut" is something that only counts 'officially' if the government has a say - isn't that like saying that Lewis Hamilton isn't "officially" a British Formula 1 Champion because his team was run and sponsored privately rather than having, say, "Department of Work & Pensions" sponsor logos on his race suit?

why I have read now in several places, that Major Tim is Britain's first "official" astronaut

Which places? Links?

Dunno Graham, but I've definitely come across that exact phrase in the last few days, as I've specifically been wondering about what it could mean. I wasn't expecting to have to cite sources, but I will see what I can do...

EDIT: Here's one (Torygraph) [url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/12050401/Tim-Peake-launch-British-astronaut-blasts-off-towards-International-Space-Station-live.html ]linky[/url]

EDIT(2): BBC at least put it in "" marks but used the same phrase.. [url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34986754 ]linky[/url]

EDIT(3): Russia Today? I know, I know, the quality news sources... In my defence, the phrase has also been used by the Daily Mail but I'm not providing a link (even though it wouldn't work) - anyway, here's RT using it [url= https://www.rt.com/uk/325856-tim-peake-astronaut-iss/ ]linky[/url]

EDIT (4): That'll do - can't be bothered but if you google "Britain's first official astronaut" you'll see what I mean: links to the independent, the sun, metro, etc. etc....

I simply think it is first official because he is paid for by the government and not private enterprise. He definitely isn't the first astronaut from Britain though.

Interesting, cheers ed. I guess they are keen for it to be acknowledged as a first, makes for a better story.

To be fair though, the BBC have mentioned Helen Sharman in a couple of articles and that Torygraph article mentions her and all the others:

[img] [/img]

Well, at least I understand now why I keep seeing the phrase - thanks.

I still thinks it's really quite odd though

Just about to dock. [url= http://www.ustream.tv/NASAHDTV ]Clicky[/url]

And I thought docking in Elite was hard...

It nearly docked then backed right off.

Yep automatic docking was aborted for some reason.
They are doing it manually.

Contact and capture confirmed. They are docked. 😀

Rather annoying the video feed was lost 🙁

...who's first to say its all filmed in a studio just outside of Russia?

[img] [/img]
- via [url=

Poke[/url].

Surely he's not a British astronaut anyway. Russian launch so doesn't that make him a cosmonaut?

Surely he's not a British astronaut anyway. Russian launch so doesn't that make him a cosmonaut?

It's just someone in space ... (like in Fargo ... it's just a flying saucer ...) 🙄

£100 billion for ISS, who'd swap Trident for it?

Womens Hour on Radio 4 described him as the 1st British Man in Space...apparently

FFS! It's not as if they are the first people to land on Mars ... 🙄

Nice to have news about achievement, human endeavour and international cooperation.

Something to rightly be celebrated, no?

^ GrahamS - totally agree. A positive news story for a change. I think its fantastic!

The incessant coverage today with ridiculous. As mentioned previously, he's a bit late to the party so I just can't understand the hysteria. So what if he's British, in space surely were all just humans and the national tribalism with regards the 'he's one of ours' mentality is just totally irrelevant IMO. First British person on the space station? Or just another person on the space station? The latter for me. I'll pick my ears up when the next human, of any nationality, goes back and lands on the moon or gets to Mars.

I'll pick my ears up when the next human, of any nationality, goes back and lands on the moon or gets to Mars.

No you won't, you'll just yap yap yap again, Like, 'It's just an Earthling that's set foot on Mars, nothing special'

🙄

What about? 😉

[img] [/img]

So what if he's British, in space surely were all just humans and the national tribalism with regards the 'he's one of ours' mentality is just totally irrelevant IMO

Nothing wrong with a bit of national pride for once. Our British tax money paid for him to be there.
The fact we are willing to fund that and invest in space is worth celebrating.

incessant coverage today with ridiculous.

Compared to what exactly? The hours of scheduling and news consumed by celebrity gossip or some blokes kicking a ball about?

The big deal is not just British involvement but government funded to the tune of £16m I believe (relatively cheap), British flag, and all officially British.

Still hitching a ride with the Russians, but so are the Americans.

Doesn't diminish the ones before but then they've had to get/buy American citizenship effectively and ride under the American flag via NASA and funded by them.

It's something to be proud of as *finally* we've actually acknowledged that space exploration is worth paying for when for decades we've paid almost nothing and let even the ESA struggle along without our help.

[quote=JoeG ]What about?

Harrison Ford covered that one earlier this week

I was on the same station (RAF, not space) as Tim for a while. Always seemed a nice bloke, glad to see him doing so well!

Sky news seemed to have good coverage - a russian interpreter (or a live feed that had one) , plus actual camera's interviewing the Italian woman had been up in ISS too and decent commentary and questions and a decent panel of experts.

BBC had some doofus trying to make a joke as an expert said they would "jump into the iss from the soyez" and he said "dont you mean float" but the telephone line to the expert was so bad, he didnt hear it and had to repeat it about 3 times . painful. and pretty much all their experts were just on a mobile phone (or string and cup by the sounds of it).
then we had to turn on Cox on the bloke i cannot understand a word he says......

a russian interpreter (or a live feed that had one)

That sounds like the official feed that I watched that online at http://www.esa.int

I didn't watch the BBC coverage of the docking but I did watch Stargazing Live to see the hatch opening. I thought they did pretty well given they had no idea when the hatch would open and had to fill a lot.

we had to turn on Cox on the bloke i cannot understand a word he says......

[img] [/img]

Two things for me;

Despite the fact I was stuck in traffic, between the time I left home, returned & put the kids to bed, a man went from here to being on telly in space, awesome.

On the BBC2 coverage, there was a simu-graphic of all the junk we've left in space floating around the planet. The sheer quantity, mess and disregard we've had with respect to that is appalling on the biggest scale imaginable. I was really at a loss with that.

back2basics - Member
then we had to turn on Cox on the bloke i cannot understand a word he says......

Which was all aimed at school kids together with shots of thousands of kids at the science museum screaming rather than looking at the launch footage.

And that highlights something that concerns me about British attitude to space, perhaps the government's attitude. It's maybe just seen as something for kids to be enthused about and so investment may only be small and on educational things, rather than investing in space technology companies, human exploration, or even crazy things like launching our own rockets or at least being a major part of ESA.

Though getting kids interested in the stuff is good, but no use if they find there's no options for them in this country when they grow up, so they end up doing something else.

Agreed deadkenny. It's great to get kids enthused about space and engineer or science, but there needs to be somewhere for them to channel that energy as they get older.

Helen Sharman was pretty keen to make that point and said that the government's funding for ESA is limited pretty much to this flight. Tim may not even get a second flight, never mind any others.

also agreed deadkenny, much of the bbc coverage seemed to be pitched at kids, or at best overly simplified.
I watched the launch and it gave me the same thrill as it always has, just a huge sense of positivity, progress and hope. Then we cut back to screaming kids and some idiot presenter stumbling over his words to crack a funny, and I think perhaps we haven't really moved on at all beyond this being a novel distraction for the masses.
Tim Peake will probably be on Strictly Come Dancing this time next year. 😆

rather than investing in space technology companies, human exploration, or even crazy things like launching our own rockets or at least being a major part of ESA.

UK is the 4th biggest individual contributor to the ESA, but also funds through other mechanisms such as the EU and EUMETSAT.

Launching our own rockets would be the biggest waste of investment ever, utterly pointless when you can use others.

Though getting kids interested in the stuff is good, but no use if they find there's no options for them in this country when they grow up