Tim Peake made history when he launched into space in 2015, becoming the first British astronaut to visit the International Space Station. But the 50-year-old admits his rise to the top came after several years of playing 'catch up'.
As a teenager, Peake didn’t leave school with top marks in his A-levels - and didn't complete his degree in flight dynamics until the age of 33. Today, the former Apache pilot wears many hats; he has worked with the European Space Agency since 2009, is a STEM ambassador at Prince’s Trust, an author and - more recently - has become the star of his very own one-man show about space.
“I do say that I’ve never studied harder than when I left school, my life has been one constant series of studying various subjects,” Peake told the Manchester Evening News . “When I speak to students I hope that my story can offer some consolation and some comfort in the fact that I left school with a C, D and an E as my A-level results…But it does show that - look, if things don’t go so well at A-levels, or you have had a challenging time, it doesn’t mean that you cannot catch up”.
