Horizon Tim Peake: How to Be an Astronaut, TV review: A Briton’s going into space – hope he masters Russian

Tim Peake documented his journey from father-of-two to bona fide space ranger in a 30-month-long video diary

Rocket man: Tim Peake was the subject of ‘Horizon: How to Be an Astronaut’ (Bill Stafford/NASA/BBC)

On 15 December, the former Army helicopter pilot Major Tim Peake will become the first British astronaut to board the International Space Station. Not only is he the first British citizen to be selected by the European Space Agency, but he also intends to complete the first space marathon.

Not wanting to miss a minute of his own adventure, Peake has documented his journey from regular(ish) father-of-two to bona fide space ranger in a 30-month-long video diary. The Horizon team did a fantastic job of crunching it down into a compelling one-hour documentary.

Peake was no seasoned storyteller or trained presenter, but his cheery face, genuine passion and the undeniably fascinating subject matter made this an incredibly enjoyable watch. The ever-cheerful Peake controlled his emotions and excitement throughout. His eyes sparkled when he talked about space, but at no point did he lose control and start whooping – something anyone in his position would be fully entitled to do. His family was also incredibly matter of fact about “daddy going into space”. His two young sons were seen watching footage of him in training and visiting him at the swimming pool where he practised his “weightless space walks”. Most little boys would be mesmerised but for these two it was normal. “Is it nearly finished?” one whined while watching a video of his dad exiting a spaceship.

The unflinching Russian mission commander Yuri Malenchenko (“a man of few words”) was unintentionally hilarious. He spoke about the mission as if it was a routine task and remained utterly emotionless. As he talked about the team (himself, Peake and the American Tim Kopra) and how much time they would spent together, I thought he was going to crack. But, alas, no. His conclusion? “We are a real crew now”.

Of everything Peake experienced – the physical exertion, time away from his family, mental challenges – the hardest part turned out to be something relatively simple. Language. The Soviet-made Soyuz craft on which he will travel is programmed entirely in Russian. “All of these words today are new,” said an exasperated Peake during one particularly gruelling life-or-death Russian lesson. “I am not a natural linguist,” he admitted. It’s good to know even geniuses have flaws.

Horizon: How to Be an Astronaut simply couldn’t fail. Even if Peake had been a total bore, the excitement alone of a man on the cusp of space travel would still have propelled this along at the speed of light. But as it turned out, this humble astronaut had real star quality.