Cross Section: Tim Peake - Science Weekly podcast

Tim Peake beat 8,172 applicants for a spot on the European Space Agency's astronaut training programme. Ian Sample talks to him about the selection process and the intensive training he went through

Have you got what it takes to be an astronaut? Major Tim Peake did. He beat 8,172 applicants for a spot on the European Space Agency's astronaut training programme. He began his intensive training in 2009, which involved living in extreme environments such as semi-submerged caves and at sea.

Six years later, Tim was launched into space and he began his stint on the International Space Station (ISS). In his 2,720 orbits of the Earth, he ran the London Marathon from the ISS treadmill, completed his first space walk and much more besides.