Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. Emerging Tech
  4. News

Astronaut Tim Peake just ran the London Marathon – in space

By
Add as a preferred source on Google

British astronaut Tim Peake refused to let the small matter of being 200 miles above Earth prevent him from taking part in the London Marathon on Sunday.

Following through on a promise he made back in December shortly before arriving on the International Space Station, Peake donned his running gear and hopped aboard a treadmill to run the race virtually, and even provided the countdown to the start of the event for the 40,000 or so runners back on the ground in the UK capital.

Recommended Videos

Thanks to the first-person view of the route offered by the RunSocial mixed-reality app, as well as live video and audio feeds of the 26.2-mile (42.2 km) race, the space-based marathon runner was able to feel like he was really there – so long as he could ignore the complex harness system that was keeping him tethered to the treadmill.

That’s right, the small matter of gravity (or lack of it) meant Peake needed a way of making sure he could actually put one foot in front of the other to complete the course.

“One of the biggest challenges is the harness system,” he told the BBC before the race. “Obviously, my bodyweight has to be firmly attached to the treadmill by this harness, and that can rub on the shoulders and around the waist.” Indeed, chafing can be a serious challenge for any long-distance runner, but it sounds like Peake needed an extra tube or two of space-friendly lubricant to see him safely to the finishing line.

The British astronaut, who arrived on the ISS on December 15 for a six-month stay, completed the London Marathon in 3:35:21, a little slower than when he ran the same course in 1999 – on terra firma – clocking 3:18:50.

The RunSocial app helped Peake feel a part of the events on the ground, offering him a high-definition POV recording of the actual course. A particularly cool feature meant the visuals matched the speed at which Peake ran, with VR avatars of others using the app appearing around him as he proceeded along the course.

The astronaut even managed to break the world record for a marathon run in space. What? You mean someone else has already run a marathon in space? Yes, indeed. In 2007, Sunita Williams ran the Boston Marathon aboard the ISS, finishing in just under four and a half hours.

Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Topics
SpaceX Starship reaches orbit for the first time but its historic flight ends early
Starship reaches orbit for the first time and deploys 26 Starlink satellites before an early splashdown.
spacex-starship

After 13 suborbital test flights and more than $15 billion in development costs, SpaceX's Starship has finally reached orbit. The 407-foot megarocket, the most powerful ever built, lifted off from Starbase, Texas, on Monday and delivered its first real payload on it's 14th attempt. The celebration came with an asterisk, though, since SpaceX had to cut the planned 10-hour mission to roughly three hours.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/2104601695711904180

Read more
Starship is finally going orbital, and SpaceX has picked September 22
Flight 14 is aiming for orbit, Starlink V3 deployment and a very long day in space.
Starship rocket.

SpaceX is finally ready to give Starship its biggest test yet. The company says the massive rocket's 14th test flight is scheduled for September 22, when it will attempt to put the upper stage into Earth orbit for the first time. The launch is currently pending regulatory approval, with a 75-minute window opening at 7:15 a.m. CT.

Starship has 26 Starlink satellites to deliver

Read more
Want a city on the Moon? Scientists say there’s not enough water
A billion tons still comes up short
Artist impression of activities in a Moon Base.

For decades, humanity has looked up at the Moon and wondered what it would be like to live on it. Think sprawling cities, factories, research centers, and permanent human settlements. Unfortunately, there is one fairly fundamental problem with that vision.

A new study published in Frontiers in Space Technologies argues that even the Moon's potentially enormous reserves of frozen water may be nowhere near enough to support city-sized populations sustainably. Researchers Martin Elvis and Jonathan McDowell estimate that the permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles could contain roughly one billion tons of water. It sounds like an extraordinary amount until you put a million thirsty humans next to it.

Read more