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Tim Peake on taking football club's flag to space

BBC A man with light ginger hair and wearing a suit and tie stands in front of a large picture of a nebula with the UK Space Agency logo on it.BBC
Tim Peake took the Stoke City FC flag to space after a campaign from a lifelong fan

Astronaut Tim Peake has spoken of the “brilliant” moment he displayed the Stoke City FC flag in space during his mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Mr Peake was the first British astronaut to set foot on the ISS and the first to conduct a spacewalk during his six-month mission in 2015 and 2016.

But before he took off, a campaign was waged by lifelong Stoke City supporter Andy Rushton in am attempt to get Mr Peake to take the cub’s flag with him.

Despite the complexities involved, Nasa agreed and Mr Peake tweeted a picture of the flag aboard the ISS on Christmas Day 2015.

Speaking to BBC Radio Stoke, Mr Peake said he remembered seeing Mr Rushton’s posts on social media in the year leading up to his journey to space.

These included “hilarious cartoon characters” and plasticine models as Mr Rushton tried to grab the astronaut’s attention.

“I thought they were brilliant. I was enjoying them and at some point I thought: ‘Well Andy is not going to stop until I reach out to him,’” Mr Peake said.

“I got in touch and said if he could get me a flag that’s not flammable and that weighs less than 150g or something... then I’ll see if Nasa will fly it up to the space station.”

Astronaut Tim Peake on his show at the Regent Theatre and the Potters flag he took to space

Mr Peake said taking the flag into space involved a lot of work, including making sure it was the right weight and material as well as being properly cleaned.

He added: “It’s a big deal. There’s a lot that goes into flying something to space. It’s not just shove it in your suitcase and off you go.”

The picture he posted on Twitter showed the Stoke City flag in front of a window aboard the ISS, with Earth visible in the background.

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Mr Peake said: “I just think it’s brilliant. It’s that juxtaposition of being up in space, in a spacecraft, and the enormity of the universe but then there’s something very human... something that we all relate to – football and a Stoke City flag, there in space.”

Mr Peake is currently touring his show Astronauts - The Quest to Explore Space, which will take place at the Regent Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent on Wednesday 11 September.

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