On Sunday , April 24 , 38,000 descended upon the streets of London to take part in the annual London Marathon . This year , though , they were join by a rather unusual participant – an cosmonaut orbiting 410 kilometre ( 255 miles ) above their head .
Yes , British European Space Agency ( ESA ) astronaut Tim Peake , wholaunched to spacein December 2015,took partin the London Marathon by make out the 42.2 klick ( 26.2 miles ) while on the International Space Station ( ISS ) , beginning at the same clip as his Earth - base counterparts at 10 a.m. BST ( 5 a.m. EDT ) . He did n’t run around the place , though ; he used a treadmill to make out the full distance . His last metre was 3 hours and 35 min .
Torun in infinite , Peake wore a backpack - comparable harness , which holds him in place in the microgravity surround of the ISS . Two chains impound to bungee electric cord , which keep him pull onto the aerofoil of the treadmill so he does n’t swim off . To keep himself fill , he used an app called RunSocial to show him the streets of London as he ran .
“ The thing I ’m most looking forwards to is that I can still interact with everybody down on Earth , ” Peake suppose before the upshot in aninterview on Wednesday . “ I ’ll be take to the woods it with the iPad and watch myself running through the streets of London whilst orbit the Earth at 400 km . ”
Aside from , you know , being in space , one major difference between Peake and the runners on the ground was that most of Peake ’s own body exercising weight was channelled through his shoulders . To account for the weightless surroundings on the station , the straps mimicked up to 80 per centum of his system of weights . However , there are plans for better treadmills to go to outer space in future that spread the weight more evenly , such as the intent fromQinetiQbelow .
Peake , like people on Earth , had been training hard to get himself quick to launch the full space . But while marathon runner on Earth will take a merited rest of at least a few days after they finish the raceway , for Peake it was back to business as common the following daytime , which means he will right away go back into his daily exercise regime . He ’ll still have to do the required daily 2.5 hour of exercise , to limit the loss of pearl and muscle mass cause by prolonged arrest on the ISS . Ouch .
He was not the first to run for a marathon in space ; NASA ’s Sunita Williamscompleted the Boston Marathonin 2007 in 4 hours and 23 minutes , but Peake ’s metre does make him the fastest battle of Marathon - Caranx crysos in space . And he ’s get some experience , having launch the actual London Marathon before in 1999 , with an telling time of 3 hours and 18 minute .
42 kilometre , while@Space_Stationflew almost 100000 km . Congratulations to everyone in#LondonMarathon&#teamastronaut … gonna sleep well tonight !
— Tim Peake ( @astro_timpeake)April 24 , 2016
This is n’t all just for playfulness , though . Medical expert from ESA monitored Peake ’s physiology and advancement , and significantly , they ’ll also be keen to see how he recovers from this strenuous bodily function . It ’s think that the slenderize warhead on the human body from floating in microgravity could help him recoup more chop-chop .
Technically , owing to the speed of the station , 27,600 kilometers per hour ( 17,100 miles per hour ) , he finish up the marathon in 5.5 seconds – but hey , that ’s cheat , ripe ?
Main image via@PrincesTrust / Twitter
