Call for Media: News conference with ESA’s first British astronaut, Tim Peake
ESA’s first British astronaut, Tim Peake, will take part in a video news conference at 12:30 BST (11:30 GMT) on 23 September to discuss his upcoming mission and its educational aspects. It will be livestreamed via NASA TV at www.nasa.gov/ntv. The news conference will take place at Queen’s Park Primary School, Droop Street, Westminster, London, UK.
Tim will talk with journalists for an hour live from NASA’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston about the educational and outreach opportunities around his mission. The news conference will be moderated by Jules Grandsire, from ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) and Jeremy Curtis, from the UK Space Agency. The two will present the educational projects supporting the Principia mission.
Tim is preparing for his launch to the International Space Station ISS on 15 December. His mission is named Principia, after Isaac Newton’s ground-breaking Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which describes the principal laws of motion and gravity.
Together with NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, Tim will embark on a six-month stay in space. He will perform more than 30 scientific experiments for ESA and take part in numerous others from ESA’s international partners.
Europe’s eighth long-duration mission to the Space Station will start aboard a Soyuz spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Queen’s Park Primary School is one of many UK schools actively engaged in the activities related to Tim’s mission, aimed at promoting STEM subjects through experiments involving food, coding, plant growth and fitness.
ESA and the UK Space Agency have partnered to develop many exciting educational activities aimed at sparking the interest of young children in science and space, including Rocket Science, AstroPi, Zero Robotics, Mission-X Train like an Astronaut and amateur radio contact in space.
For further information and registration, please contact:
Lorraine Conroy
European Space Agency
Email : lorraine.conroy@esa.int
Tel: +31 715 65 34 08
Mob: +31 655 71 81 12
Julia Short
UK Space Agency
Email: julia.short@ukspaceagency.bis.gsi.gov.uk
Tel: +44 20 72 15 50 00
Mob : +44 77 70 27 67 21
Location
Queen’s Park Primary School
Droop Street
London W10 4DQ
About Tim Peake
A helicopter pilot and a major in the British Army, Tim was selected as an ESA astronaut in May 2009. He joined ESA in September 2009 and completed Astronaut Basic Training in November 2010. He received Eurocom certification in September 2011, which allows him to be responsible for communication between astronauts in orbit and Europe’s Mission Control Centre.
With five other astronauts, he joined a 2011 mission as part of an international team living underground for a week and exploring a cave system in Sardinia, with the focus on human behaviour and performance in extreme environments.
In June 2012, Tim spent 12 days in the Aquarius habitat 20 m below the sea off the coast of Florida for NASA’s Extreme Environment Mission Operations, or NEEMO. NEEMO allows space agencies to test technologies and conduct research for future missions. Tim’s NEEMO 16 mission focused on developing the tools, techniques and procedures required for a crewed mission to an asteroid.
In 2012 Tim completed training and certification for spacewalks using both the Russian Orlan spacesuit and the US Extravehicular Mobility Unit.
He was appointed an ambassador for UK Science and space-based careers in 2009 and is involved in working with the UK Space Agency in developing the UK’s microgravity research programme. He is keenly interested in promoting science and engineering as career possibilities for school pupils and students.
For more information about Tim’s Principia mission online, visit http://timpeake.esa.int/
Follow Tim Peake on social media:
Twitter: @astro_timpeake
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ESATimPeake
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/timpeake
About the European Space Agency
The European Space Agency (ESA) provides Europe’s gateway to space.
ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
ESA has 21 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, of whom 19 are Member States of the EU.
One other Member State of the EU, Hungary, has signed the Accession Agreement to the ESA Convention and, upon ratification, will soon become the 22nd ESA Member State.
ESA has established formal cooperation with seven other Member States of the EU.
Canada takes part in some ESA programmes under a Cooperation Agreement. ESA is also working with the EU on implementing the Galileo and Copernicus programmes.
By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, ESA can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country.
ESA develops the launchers, spacecraft and ground facilities needed to keep Europe at the forefront of global space activities. Today, it develops and launches satellites for Earth observation, navigation, telecommunications and astronomy, sends probes to the far reaches of the Solar System and cooperates in the human exploration of space.
Learn more about ESA at www.esa.int
About the UK Space Agency
The UK Space Agency is responsible for all strategic decisions on the UK civil space programme and provides a clear, single voice for UK space ambitions. At the heart of UK efforts to explore and benefit from space, we are responsible for ensuring that the UK retains and grows a strategic capability in space-based systems, technologies, science and applications. We lead the UK’s civil space programme in order to win sustainable economic growth, secure new scientific knowledge and provide benefit to all citizens.
We work to:
- co-ordinate UK civil space activity
- encourage academic research
- support the UK space industry
- raise the profile of UK space activities at home and abroad
- increase understanding of space science and its practical benefits
- inspire our next generation of UK scientists and engineers
- licence the launch and operation of UK spacecraft
- promote co-operation and participation in the European Space programme
