Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Army Air Corps officer and European Space Agency astronaut who became the first British astronaut to complete a spacewalk wearing a union jack.
On the island
Eight records
I thought, you know, what could be better than listening to Don't Stop Me Now just before you launch into space? It still makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck every time I hear it.
This was actually the first single that was given to me by my grandmother in 1972. It was a vinyl 45 RPM. And it wasn't by Madness then, of course. It was by Labi Siffre, who wrote the original It Must Be Love. So it was a very special song, and I love what Madness have done with it, with their version.
When I was 18 years old I gained a flying scholarship that was given to me by the Royal Air Force so I went down to Compton Abbas Airfield and spent 30 hours flying Cessna aircraft and I did my first solo just you know after a few hours and I came back after that sortie and I was so elated on such a high you know taking an aircraft up at 18 years old by yourself and I landed and this was playing in the bar next to the airfield so I sat down with a cold beer with my mates and listened to Waterloo Sunset so this just takes me back to my first solo.
This takes me back to Sandhurst actually, and we were just monumentally tough. And it was after one of those really difficult, week-long exercises. We'd been on Salisbury Plain digging in our trenches, and we'd had very, very little sleep. It had been freezing cold. And we came back. I went to my room, and this was on the radio, and I just lay there, fully clothed, listened to it with a smile on my face, and closed my eyes and woke up several hours later, still fully closed.
Disc number five is word up, but I've gone for the gun version. Obviously, Cameo did this in 1986 when I was growing up. I was 14 years old, but I was listening to the gun version as I was driving over to Gutesloe, and this was after I passed my Army Pilot's Corps, so I had my wings and I was going to my first posting. It needs to be played loud, and it typifies the four years of partying that I did as a young army pilot in Guttesloe.
I Don't Want to Miss a ThingFavourite
This takes me back to spring 1999 when I was recently engaged to Rebecca and she had got posted out to Macedonia. She was part of the Kosovo operation. And so I was sending her a care package. And this kind of, I guess, it's a bit cheesy, but it's our song. And of course, I don't want to miss a thing was all about missing Rebecca and the time that I wasn't getting to spend with her.
This again it's one of those iconic moments where I was just about to deploy to Bosnia on a six-month mission and my great Irish friend Philip McCabe and I decided to take an impromptu holiday to California just before deploying to Bosnia and we were driving along the California highway on the way to Santa Barbara and Bush glycerine came on and this just brings me back to those happy memories.
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
It's just such a hilarious, upbeat and happy song. I'm a huge fan of Monty Python, and if you're going to be cast away on an island, then why not have this with you?
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:49What kind of temperament does the job [of an astronaut] require?
You've got to be somebody who's calm under pressure, somebody who gets on very well with other people, you know, good communication skills and teamwork. All of that is tested during the year-long selection process. But ultimately, you know, when I was going through that, I was interviewed by Jean-François Clairvoy, a French astronaut, and I asked him afterwards, I said, Drew, why did you say yes? He said, Well, I always just ask myself a question: Would I like to spend six months in space with this person? And if the answer is yes, then you get the ticket in the box.
Presenter asks
2:35Can you describe [the spacewalk]?
It's incredible. I mean, there's a lot of apprehension and nervousness beforehand, clearly. I was going to the cupola window and I was looking out and I was trying to visualize my roots and think where I'd be going, and handholds and how to get around this incredible structure. You've got to have so much concentration not to make a mistake. The thing about a spacewalk is lots of things can go wrong in space, and many times they're not your fault. On a spacewalk, if something goes wrong, it probably is your fault because the scope for human error is incredible. So you're worried about, you know, am I going to mess up? But when you get out there in that environment, it's just so exhilarating. I mean, there are moments of adrenaline, clearly, when you're, you know, dropping out the airlock hatch and you're looking down below 400 kilometers and there's planet Earth passing by beneath you. And you look the other way and you just see the universe stretching out to infinity. It's quite overwhelming.
The keepsakes
The book
a very large full colour world atlas
I'm going to take with me a very large full colour world atlas because I love looking at maps and charts... With an atlas there's always something new to discover and you know having seen the earth from space I just love looking through atlases and thinking of the stories they tell of all the places on earth.
The luxury
I love looking up at the stars. ... with no light pollution on the desert island, it's a great place for a telescope.
Presenter asks
6:35I wonder what was going through your mind at that moment [making a heart sign to your boys before launch].
It's the hardest thing ever to do is to say goodbye. It's even harder when you know that you're putting yourself in harm's way. I knew it was going to be tough on Rebecca and my two boys Thomas and Oliver with me being away for six months. And at that point you're just desperately thinking, let everything go smoothly and don't let this be the last time that I'm going to see you.
Presenter asks
7:11I wonder about your experience of managing anxiety and managing isolation, and you must have thought about that in the the past few months of lockdown.
I thought about it an awful lot, and we're so fortunate as astronauts. You know, we have so much training and preparation to go and live in isolation. And of course, everybody's been launched into a year of various lockdowns with no preparation, no training, no guidance or advice as to what you can do to make your life easier. We stick to structure and routine on the space station to help us, to make sure everybody knows what to do, when to do it, to manage expectations, to avoid conflict. We spend a week living in a cave, 12 days underwater, all of this to help us deal with these circumstances. So my thoughts have been with everybody this year has been trying to deal with difficult circumstances and also that separation from loved ones where you can't go and just have a face-to-face conversation. You can't have human contact with people.
Presenter asks
16:26How did you feel [when you were deployed to Northern Ireland]?
You're quite nervous. You're aware that you've gone through this training. And of course, my end point, my ambition, was to become a pilot. But this was all about leading men as it was back there, the Royal Green Jackets, an all-male platoon. And you're going to be tested, and you're going to be tested in an operational environment. You know, not you're going to be tested somewhere where the results matter and people's lives are at stake. So you have to step up to the plate. So there's a degree of apprehension about what you're about to do and what you're about to undertake. But of course, you've got brilliant people around you, and you've got experienced platoon sergeants that can help you, and platoon corporals as well. So the green jackets were a fantastic bunch to work with, but very, very challenging as well. I mean, the soldiers were all very tough and very street-wise, and there's a young, fresh-faced second lieutenant out of Santos. That's a steep learning curve.
Presenter asks
26:55What does gravity feel like, after six months away?
Incredibly heavy. It's unbelievable. You know, we just don't notice it. We're so used to it on Earth. But when you haven't had it for six months, you realize everything is so heavy. Somebody just passed me an iPad. I had to do a routine test on it, and this thing felt like a brick. And sleeping at night was really uncomfortable. You know, you feel the pressure on your body. So it took a lot of getting used to.
“I always just ask myself a question: Would I like to spend six months in space with this person? And if the answer is yes, then you get the ticket in the box.”
“It's the hardest thing ever to do is to say goodbye. It's even harder when you know that you're putting yourself in harm's way.”
“I've described my childhood in my book as ordinary, which I don't mean to be condescending in any way, because I think an ordinary childhood is very much underrated and actually incredibly hard to achieve.”
“The important thing, and it's great to have dreams and it's great to be able to set your sight on them, is to never give up, to constantly work towards it, but also to enjoy the journey that takes you there.”