Space had always been one of my dreams as a child. It is hard not to look at the moon and marvel. When British Airways told me I'd flown the equivalent miles to the moon and back, my relationship with it changed. The dream remains enduring, as Tim Peake reminds us in this work. Only 620 people in human history have left Earth. Even fewer have been to the moon. Peake is an exceptionally engaging person, evidenced by his autobiography, Limitless, and from having seen him speak at the Science Museum, where I received this signed copy. As the work's title suggests, here Peake tells ‘The Human Story’, effectively demystifying much of the aura about space travel. When the era began in the 1950s, there was no precedent and no rules. It is remarkable how much was made up or botched along the way. It was also illuminating about the conflict that arose between the objectives of NASA and the expectations of astronauts. Inevitably there were consequences, both intended and unintended. Narrated ever humorously by Peake, we are also reminded that each astronaut is ultimately just a human, albeit one with an unquenched thirst to push the boundaries wherever possible. As Peake writes, ‘risk was part of the inspirational force driving exploration’, not rated.
By Tim Peake