TIM PEAKE and BRITAIN'S ROAD TO SPACE

For centuries the British developed areputation as anation ofexplorers. From Francis Drake's circumnavigation of the globeto the ascent of Everest, British explorers crossed oceans andcontinents and ventured where few, if any, had gone before. Untilvery recently, that legacy of exploration had not extended to space.For decades, successive governments chose to stay out of the humanspaceflight programme, but in 2008 there were signs of optimism whenESA selected a new class of six astronauts, including, for the first time, aBritish representative: Timothy Peake. This book puts the reader in the flight suit of Britain's first maleastronaut. In addition to delving into the life of Tim Peake, this bookdiscusses the learning curves required in astronaut and mission trainingand the complexity of the technologies required to launch an astronautand keep them alive for months on end. This book underscores the factthat technology and training, unlike space, do not exist in a vacuum;complex technical systems, like the ISS, interact with the variables ofhuman personality, and the cultural background of the astronauts. Butultimately, this is the story of Tim Peake and the Principia mission andthe down-to-the-last-bolt descriptions of life aboard the ISS, by way ofthe hurdles placed by the British government and the rigors of trainingat Russia's Star City military base.