Q&A: Astronaut, Tim Peake, reveals valuable lessons about fear, preparation, teamwork, and the future of space exploration

In our latest instalment of the We find a way event series, we were joined by astronaut, Tim Peake.

Throughout his 18 year military career, he accumulated over 3000 hours of flight time on operations across the globe preparing himself for the ultimate challenge; to become the first British astronaut to visit the International Space Station and conduct a spacewalk. He also ran an entire marathon from space.

Ahead of the event, we sat down to ask a few questions of our own on how he embodies the We find a way ethos.

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For most people, the fear of the unknown is what stops them from doing things. You seem to run towards adversity. What advice can you give someone to overcome fear or adversity in everyday walks of life?

I think acknowledging it is really important, and I think if you spoke to any Astronaut and said, "Were you afraid?" they'd say, "Well, absolutely." That's not always been in my military career. When I first started flying, it was quite an alpha male environment. We didn't have any female pilots when I first joined and men didn't talk about their problems and acknowledge fear. Actually, things have changed so much, and for the better. As astronauts, we will talk about what we are afraid of, and it's okay if that fear never goes away. I think what you have to do is address what you can do about it, how you can mitigate it to a level at which you're comfortable to accept that residual risk, and crack on with the job. For us, most of the time, that comes down to training and preparation. Maybe it's a case of addressing bits of equipment or other things that can help reduce the risk that we're taking. But ultimately, you know that brings the fear down to a point where it's manageable, and you can sometimes use that adrenaline to your advantage. You know, you've got that kind of adrenaline curve where a little spike in adrenaline is actually very productive. It's when it courses through your veins and immobilises you with fear that it becomes completely disruptive. So you never wanted to get to that point.

Was there a time on the space station where it went truly wrong and you were left your own devices to sort it out?

Not left to our own devices, thankfully. Well… on the docking… that did go truly wrong and we had minutes there to rectify the situation and work out what had failed and to take manual control of the spacecraft, get it under control, and attempt to re-dock. But there's one emergency on the space station where if it loses ‘attitude control’, the crew would be on their own because things go wrong in a very rapid sequence of events. You lose electrical power because your solar panels aren't pointing at the sun; you lose navigation because they're not pointing at GPS; Your thermal control goes wonky because the radiators which should be shielded from the sun, are now directly facing the sun and then your communications are gone, as well as communication with earth. And so it's one of those situations where it can go from being a very quiet, ordinary day on the space station, to utter chaos in a short space of time, so we train hard for that emergency.

At Chaucer our ethos is ‘We Find a Way’, which encapsulates our entrepreneurial spirit to overcome challenging situations on a day-to-day basis. What's the one thing that you tell yourself to help you navigate the most challenging situations and overcome those?

I always think, what are we trying to achieve? I think that's because often when we're in circumstances that get challenging, the fog comes in and that's when people lose focus. And so I always try and stay calm, take a step back and try and work out what is the end state? Where are we trying to get to? And then take a breath and navigate your best path and course of action to get you to that end state. And you know, that set me a good stead many times, whether it's a rapid decision that needs to be made in an aircraft or sparring out of control, whether it's perhaps a more thoughtful decision making process where you, for a few days on the space station,work out how to rectify something. That kind of clarity of thought is vital, whichever the case.

Is there a mentorship programme for astronauts in training? What’s the importance of that?

Very much so. Part of your astronaut training is to go and support the launches of the more experienced astronauts and to go out there and support the families. So you get to go through a launch process, you get to see what it's going to be like when it's your turn. You get to work in mission control and to communicate with the space station. There's lots of training that goes into preparation for your own mission. But mentoring and being part of the family network's is a big part of how you prepare for your mission.

And when it comes to launch, is there a way to describe that feeling or emotion when you’re trapped in and the countdown begins?

It's quite funny. You’re emotions flip-flop and you feel like you're in the simulator because you've done this a thousand times. But then you remind yourself, actually there’s 300 tons of fuel beneath me this time. And part of you as being incredibly professional with the radio calls and with the checklists and then part of you is giggling inside because it's that young kid who always wanted to sit on a rocket and fly to space. And so it's quite funny having those that dichotomy of emotions really and flicking between the two.

There's a plan to send a crewed a mission to the moon in a couple of years, but we've not sent one in over 50 years. There’s also a rise in privately funded space travel, so it begs the question; what's the future of space exploration?

That’s quite a big question. I think I would break it down into three camps.

The one camp that I don't really like talking about so much is the space touristy bit, or ‘sub orbital’. At the moment, it's not doing much for humanity and it's not doing much for science or technology. This is the kind of travel that Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, and Richard Branson’s, Virgin Galactic do where they pop up 100 kilometres for four minutes of weightlessness then fall back down. Having said that, fast forward 100 years, we might look back on these flights and say “that was the beginning of what is a brand-new suborbital transportation system that can get you from London to Sydney in an hour”.

And in 100 years' time, we might think nothing of going to London to Sydney on a suborbital trip. But at the moment, it doesn’t seem useful.

Then there's the lower earth orbit element, which is incredibly exciting, and that's the explosion of a kind of new space travel. There are many startups in that area where everybody is taking advantage of the reduction in the cost of access to space, from what SpaceX had done. SpaceX have been fundamental in opening up that market.

And then there's the right of arc which is, “let's return to the Moon and think about going to Mars”; the big exploration programme. That's where a kind of new space race is occurring between the West, as part of the Artemis Accords, and China and Russia with what's called the ILRS, the International Lunar Research Station. That's quite interesting and exciting as well; returning to the moon and thinking about sending up permanent research stations, exploring how we can live and work there for months or years at a time. But also, it brings in a new level of contention with regards to a kind of new space race and brings into question as to how we should explore, sustainably and collaboratively, and how we're going to do it peacefully as well.

What’s the one thing that being in space has taught you, that you could project to everyone else?

That’s interesting. In terms of what it's taught myself, I think it teaches you a lot about what you can deal with. What is your personal toolbox as you go through life. So I’ve really had to push myself further than I’ve ever pushed myself as a test pilot, or during spacewalking, or docking a spacecraft; these are the kinds of activities which are incredibly high stakes.

In terms of what it's taught me that I would project to other people, I think it's this overview effect of looking back on planet Earth. I don't use the word fragile because Earth isn't fragile, really. It's quite a robust little rocky planet, but it is definitely remote and isolated, and it looks incredibly isolated when you see it from space against its vast black backdrop. It's home, and it's all we've got. Even if we get to live on Mars, it will never, ever be half as beautiful as living on Earth. So that would be my message to everybody; remember, we've got a pretty special planet here.