Astronaut visit to Newton home a 'special moment'

British astronaut Tim Peake says visiting Sir Isaac Newton's family home in Lincolnshire will be a "special moment".

Peake is set to share some of his space travel experiences with visitors at the National Trust's Woolsthorpe Manor, near Grantham, on 22 June.

The ticketed event, which runs from 10:00 BST, will also include a question and answer session and a mini rocket launch with local schoolchildren.

The astronaut said Sir Isaac's work more than 350 years ago paved the way for modern space travel.

In 2015, Peake became the first British European Space Agency astronaut to go into space, where he worked on board the International Space Station for six months.

The event starts a "summer of discovery" series at the venue, which runs during the school summer holidays and is inspired by Sir Isaac's discoveries.

Sir Isaac is credited with laying the foundations for our scientific age, with his laws of motion and theory of gravity underpinning much of modern physics and engineering.

"It's a special moment for me, I hope we'll inspire future scientists, alchemists, astronauts and inventors this summer," said Peake.

“It'll blow my mind to stand in the spot where Newton’s journey began - his work and his ideas eventually led to me going into space."

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