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Dark skies inspired Tim Peake's space wonder

Stuart Maisner
BBC News, South East
Getty Images Tim Peake in his European Space Agency uniform with a projection of the International Space Station behind him Getty Images
Tim Peake was the first British astronaut to set foot on the International Space Station

Former UK astronaut Tim Peake has been describing how his childhood growing up in West Sussex inspired him to travel into space.

Peake was the first British astronaut to set foot on the International Space Station and the first to conduct a spacewalk during his six-month mission in 2015 and 2016.

The former Army helicopter pilot stepped down permanently from his role as a European astronaut in 2023, taking up a full-time ambassadorial position for science and space.

He told BBC Radio Sussex: "I went to the cadets at Chichester High School and carried on with that adventurous streak which ultimately led me to the army and to space."

Speaking about growing up in West Sussex, Peake said: "I had such a very safe, very secure childhood.

"Living in Westbourne it has quite dark skies and I thinking 'I wonder what's out there":[]}