Tim Peake: from A-level disappointment to outer space

Just how far can intellectual curiosity take a person? For UK astronaut Tim Peake, the answer speaks for itself - and is rooted in his early experiences of education.

From his formative years as a test pilot to his scientific contributions aboard the International Space Station, Peake’s story is one of dedication, inquiry and the power of education.

We caught up with him to hear about his path to seeing our planet from afar and where he sees the role of schools and teachers in securing its future.

What were your beginnings in science and engineering?

I’ve always loved figuring out how things worked. From an early age, I’d be playing around, taking things apart with a screwdriver. I’ve always loved that kind of hands-on, practical approach.

But it was probably my chemistry teacher, Tony Forrest, who was the biggest inspiration at school. He was quite strict, but he had a hands-on approach, with lots of practical science experiments that kept things really interesting. It was almost learning by stealth, because you went to the lessons knowing that you’d have fun, and when you came out, you’d realise, “Oh, I did actually learn something there as well”.

He also was the head of the Combined Cadet Force, which was my life when I was a teenager. I thrived in the cadets. When I look back, the soft skills that I picked up during those years are still ones that I use every day.

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And were you already working hard towards becoming an astronaut then?

My dream was to be a pilot; I didn’t even know to think about space. Academically, I didn’t do brilliantly. My GCSEs were good, but I went on to do A levels in maths, physics and chemistry. I did OK in the mocks, but at the same time, I got a letter from the Royal Military Academy saying I’d been accepted into officer training, so my eye came off the ball with the academics and I got a C, D and an E.

When I speak in schools, the kids’ eyes are wide when I tell them that. But I caveat it by saying that I’ve never worked harder than since leaving school. It’s been a continual process of learning and development. The moment I started flying seriously, suddenly everything started falling into place, and studying made sense, and the physics and the maths involved became relatable to what I was doing.

How do you think we can get more young people to have that sort of excitement about Stem?

We do amazing things in this country and one of the things that I’m really passionate about is banging our drum a bit more, because we don’t really showcase great British engineering and science. We need to inspire the great minds of the future.

For example, we’ve got some of the best fusion scientists in the world at Culham [Centre for Fusion Energy] who are really leading the efforts for fusion energy. We’ve got some of the best producers of satellite solar panels up in Glasgow, getting efficiencies that other countries would dream about. And we’ve got microprocessors being built in Wales that could be 100 times more powerful than anything we’ve seen, because they’re using extremely pure silicon wafers that are grown in space. We need to bang that drum!

What that does is make students think: “Wow, that’s all happening in the UK, I could go and work for that company and have an exciting and interesting career.” But the partnership between industry and school has to be a lot better for that to happen.

What would you like to see happen to create those links?

I think it needs a two-pronged approach, from schools and from industry. We always talk about teachers and what they can do in terms of making classes more fun, making things more hands-on or practical, but the curriculum is packed, especially in Stem-based subjects, and there’s a huge amount for teachers to get through. Trying to find time and resources for the nice-to-haves is hard work.

So as much as schools and teachers should try to have that focus on relatability, it’s also up to industry to make time and resources available, to help nurture students and show them why they are studying a subject like this and how it could lead to a really fascinating career, whether that’s in engineering or science or computing or whatever it might be.

Building that bridge between industry and school will do so many different things, not just inspiring our students, but also making sure that industry has a larger voice when it comes to the skills that students are taught.

What else would you like to see happening in schools to boost engagement with Stem?

I think competitions are great for giving students the ability to think creatively about a real-world problem and come up with an interesting solution, as well as developing those soft skills.

For example, it might be a rocketry competition where they’ve got to get an egg on top of a rocket to a certain height, and they’ve got to be as accurate as possible with the altitude that the rocket gets to, then the egg has to parachute down, unbroken. Now that’s a real challenge.

You’ve got to watch the launch G forces, you’ve got to have a good parachute opening, you’ve got to get the fuel absolutely correct for the altitude, and of course, you’ve got to have some landing system to make sure it doesn’t break. That sort of task really gets them thinking, especially when they’re on a tight budget, as to how they can do something. And I think it’s amazing.

There are loads of great competitions out there, but we don’t have one flagship competition for Stem, so that’s something I would like to see.

Ultimately, it’s about trying to bring that real-world applicability to young people, so it’s not just about what they are doing, but why they are doing it.

Tim will be taking part in the BBC Teach British Science Week 2025 Space Live Lesson on Monday, 10th March.