At a recent reception at Downing Street hosted by the PM Theresa May, Nigel Evans MP met Major Tim Peake, who recently returned from a six month trip aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Major Tim was making his first major public appearance since landing in Kazakhstan on the 18th June.
Speaking at the reception, Tim said “It still seems fairly surreal that less than four weeks ago I was on board the International Space Station travelling at 25 times the speed of sound and looking down on planet Earth.”
Nigel Evans said “For thousands of children and adults across Britain who have been following Tim’s journey, he is an inspiration and a fantastic role model”.
Tim has engaged the nation’s schoolchildren by asking for their help in space experiments. Thousands of children will grow rocket seeds that were taken into orbit, and then compare their growth with seeds that stayed on Earth.
Tim Peake was the first astronaut to successfully get a flower to bloom in space, researching into how astronauts of the future could grow their own food on voyages.
Nigel praised this, saying “Tim Peake is not only a great champion of science, but a champion of Britain. He is the eighth British person to go into space, proving that we are a nation of scientists and explorers, and with a growing space sector we are going to have an even bigger role in the future”.
During his time on the space station, Tim travelled more than 114 million kilometres, at a speed of over 17,000mph.
One of Tim’s other notable achievements was to run the London marathon from space, which he completed in just over three and a half hours. In the time it took him to complete the race, the ISS had travelled over 53,000 miles.