Following his selection from almost 8,500 European candidates in May 2009, the UK's Tim Peake (38) is now training hard at ESA's European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany. Ahead of him is a further eight months of astronaut 'theory' and then four months of pre-mission assignment training. As a former Apache helicopter test pilot with over 3,000 hours flying time with the Army Air Corps and AgustaWestland, 'Major Tim' is used to focussing on in-depth technical challenges and highly complex flight systems procedures - but his new ESA work may one day provide him with a spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS) and perhaps even beyond.
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