Original subtitles

In the year 2021,

a 21-year-old man named Francis Bourgeois

rose to fame by doing something remarkably simple -

filming his love of trains.

Francis, a train spotter by trade

and a dreamer by design...

HE LAUGHS

..did not set out to become famous.

In fact, it was entirely accidental.

I'm here at Dilton Marsh station...

On the West Coast Main Line... 4:30 this morning.

59 come through with some absolutely brilliant honks,

I cannot wait.

Armed with little more than a GoPro

and an infectious enthusiasm for diesel locomotives,

he captured the hearts of millions who, quite frankly,

weren't expecting to fall in love with a train spotter.

However, Francis's life wasn't always about trains.

Alongside falling for the railway, young Francis had another love...

..the infinite, unknowable vastness of space.

Once upon a time, only governments'

global space agencies held the keys to the stars.

Their astronauts were military men trained

for years to overcome impossible obstacles.

But something extraordinary is now happening.

We are at the dawn of a new space race.

We are entering an era where visiting,

working and even living in space is now

a realistic possibility for an entire generation,

which got Francis thinking - could he take the passion,

curiosity and engineering know-how he'd built on Earth

and aim it towards the heavens?

So with humanity once again reaching for the stars,

Francis found himself facing the question

that had quietly followed him since childhood,

a question full of hope, fear and impossibility...

Can a train spotter become an astronaut?

Whoa!

The journey to answering that question began

in London in a flat I share with my girlfriend Amy.

What I want people to know is

that I love engineering, like I'm a mechanical engineer.

I love the thought of going to space.

You know, it's a childhood dream and a childhood love.

And I want to, you know,

prove to myself and the people around me

that I have what it takes.

It seems so far fetched, but, you know,

I have my degree.

There are so many things going on with, like, the next space race.

I don't think it's kind of out of the question

for me to kind of apply my engineering knowledge,

apply my passion and, you know, my childhood desire to,

you know, not only become an astronaut,

but to actually become an engineer in space.

The reason I'm so invested is because there's never been

a better time to have this dream.

All over the world, more rockets are taking off than ever before,

powered by private companies, all designing a future

where humanity can spread its wings

and head for a new life in the stars.

It really is a new dawn.

And as a mechanical engineer, I wondered

whether I was good enough to get a little slice of this cosmic pie.

He has such a joyous view of the world,

and finds such appreciation

in things that lots of people would just overlook.

He's obsessed with engineering.

He loves switches.

He'll stop and, like, be toing and froing switches

for several, several times.

And I'll just be sort of stood there patiently waiting,

as he's fascinated by the mechanism.

I think it just makes him really special

that he can view the world through this particular way.

I hate the feeling of regret. You know,

every time I look at the Saturn V rocket,

I don't want to suddenly feel a pang of like,

"Oh, it could have almost been."

It's something that I'll support him in doing,

and I know he has the capability of doing mentally,

but it's the physical challenges I think

will be the toughest.

I know his mum's very worried about it.

Um, yeah. I'm getting messages from her saying,

"Oh, is he really...?

"Is this really, you know, a potential thing?"

Becoming an astronaut seemed like such a daunting task.

I was an outsider trying to get in on a world I had no contacts in,

and I didn't want to spend my life wondering, "What if?"

So I fell back on what I'm most familiar with

and decided to make a TikTok asking for help.

And this is me doing it now.

- OK, let's do one here with the dish in the background. - OK.

Can a train spotter become an astronaut?

This isn't a joke. I genuinely want

to take the steps towards becoming an astronaut.

I wasn't sure how my video would go down.

I'm not the traditional macho image of an old school astronaut,

and I didn't know if people would take me seriously.

Any help or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

But the response and support was amazing,

and amongst all the likes,

hearts and some scepticism was one comment that caught my eye.

I couldn't believe it.

A comment from Major Tim Peake.

Tim is the epitome of

what you'd expect an astronaut to be.

He started out as an Apache helicopter pilot in the Army,

became a test pilot, and then, incredibly,

made it all the way to the International Space Station.

I knew I was going to need a mentor and some help,

so I tentatively sent him a follow request and then he sent me this.

Hi, Francis, I heard that you're thinking

of swapping out your trains for rockets,

and I know a thing or two about rockets, so give me a shout.

I've received a DM from Tim Peake,

the legendary British astronaut.

I've expressed to him that I want to go through

the actual training processes and, yeah,

just I'm talking with an astronaut at this stage.

Being an astronaut might look like lots of floating around,

but going from 0 to 1000mph

in one minute puts a huge strain on the body.

So Tim's plan was to test me here on Earth

in something called a centrifuge.

So you're being spun around, like this,

in kind of this axis.

What that can simulate is a rocket launch or flying around

in a jet fighter.

So Tim's invited me there,

just to get started in my training.

You'll be fine. And if you're not fine,

- it'll be over before you know it. - Yeah.

OK. Well, I'll see you for dinner.

I was excited, but in truth, I was also quite apprehensive.

I had no idea if I had what it took to survive the centrifuge.

But there was only one way to find out.

I jumped on board 91109 Sir Bobby Robson

from Kings Cross to Grantham,

full of enthusiasm and an avocado and egg baguette.

Tim had invited me to the RAF Centre of Aerospace Medicine,

home of the Elite Flight Training School

and a 39-tonne centrifuge.

My stomach was in knots and I could feel my confidence draining away.

I'm slightly worried about my kind of stature

potentially being an issue.

- You're quite tall. Yes. - Are there tall astronauts?

- There are tall astronauts, yes. - Oh, OK.

Sometimes taller people struggle a bit more with G-tolerance.

It's something you have to build up.

- And that's just a physiological fact. - Yeah.

Sometimes when I go from lying down to standing up really quickly,

I can lose my vision slightly.

Tim accompanied me to the mission briefing room

to meet Wing Commander Joe Britton for a detailed

technical explanation on G-Force

and how astronauts can combat the negative effects.

When we talk about G-Force, what we're really talking

about is acceleration, but relative to Earth's gravity.

So one G is just Earth's gravity.

Sitting here, it's acting from our head to our toe,

that's what we call Gz, in the Z axis.

What our centrifuge can do is go all the way up to 12.

But don't worry, we're not going to take you that far today.

Sorry. Can I just check how much I should be taking off?

If you're at nine G, everything weighs nine times more.

So your blood then wants to go

down to your feet where we don't want it,

and away from your brain where you really do want it.

Do I do trousers with suit, or suit and no trousers?

So it can get a bit warm in there.

The main risk is that you don't get enough oxygen being delivered

to your brain, and you can lose consciousness.

- Something we call G-LOC, or G-induced loss of consciousness. - OK.

Not really much for the G-suit to constrict on, really.

I was looking fantastic

and ready to go and take a look at the centrifuge.

- You look fantastic. - Thank you.

Shall we go and take a look at the centrifuge?

Just come on through to our centrifuge hall.

- So this is the machine you'll be spending the afternoon in. - Wow!

Whoa!

- Oh, there was a weird acoustics thing there. - Yeah.

Ooh!

Good luck, Francis. We'll be following on in Mission Control.

- Thank you. - Good luck. Have a good launch. - Thank you.

I was trying to give off the impression that I was comfortable,

but in reality, I was anything but.

It hit me just after they locked the hatch,

that this wasn't hypothetical any more.

This was actual astronaut stuff.

Only a week ago I was watching a Class 56 down at Preston Docks,

and now I was going to experience the G-forces

needed to push a ten-tonne space plane

to the edge of the atmosphere.

My journey had started, and I was about to find out

if an ordinary person could become an astronaut.

OK, so I have the lead, and we're doing suborbital profiles.

So, are you ready?

- Ready. - Ready? Tim, are you ready? - Ready.

Ready. Excellent.

- Enable drives. - Drives enabled.

The centrifuge had to be brought up to speed

before the real test could start.

OK, Francis, we're about to spin up to that baseline of 1.2 G's.

OK. I'm ready.

Launching in five, four, three, two, one.

Now.

Wow.

Wow.

OK, so this feels like quite

a harsh acceleration in a fast sports car.

Now my smile feels

like it's being maintained a bit by the G-Force.

I do have quite a lot of loose skin on my face.

You're at baseline now.

Just gearing myself up for this.

I kind of need to burp a bit. BELCHING

Pardon me.

Oh, I can taste a bit of avocado there.

OK. I'm ready.

The centrifuge was going to simulate a real space plane launch.

I'd spent my whole life wondering

if I had what it took to reach the stars.

And now, with one of my childhood heroes watching,

I was about to find out what I was really made of.

I wasn't a fighter pilot. I wasn't Neil Armstrong.

I was just a train spotter with a love of engineering and a dream.

Launching in five, four, three, two, one.

Now.

Wow! Whoa!

Whoa!

OK. OK.

- Oh. - That's it coming up to maximum G's there.

OK. I can't see anything.

Francis, can you hear us?

Francis?

Francis, can you hear us?

Francis? Francis?

Sorry. I think I might have

- dribbled on the mic a bit. - Are you back with us?

- Yeah. - OK. Well, we did say

we won't expect to take you anywhere near losing consciousness today.

- But it looks like we might have done. - Oh!

- I didn't expect... Sorry. - Not a problem at all.

I just very quickly lost vision.

Oh!

Oh.

I'd just been physically tested for the first time,

and I'd failed to make it to four G without passing out.

If this had been a real launch, I'd have quite literally

fallen asleep at the wheel.

- Hey, Francis. How are you doing? - I feel rather pathetic.

Yeah. Oh!

Yeah. It's quite a fast onset, isn't it?

- Yeah. Yeah. - Yeah. Just take deep breaths.

It's made me realise that there's a lot

that I'd need to do in order

to get ready to experience something like that

for real in a launch. So, yeah,

I think, you know, like Tim said, probably a bit of experience.

You know, maybe more clenching.

Um, yeah.

PHONE RINGS

- Hello. - Hi, darling. - Hi. How did it go today?

- Uh, not great. - Oh, no.

I just feel like I've gone into this with quite

an unrealistic expectation of what I might be able to achieve.

That evening, I posted the clip

of me passing out to my social media.

OK. I can't see anything.

I thought people would be shocked

by seeing my face so distorted by G-force,

and I didn't know what the overall response would be.

However, messages poured in from strangers

all over the world telling me to keep going.

So encouraged by this, I decided to continue.

Over the course of the next week, I wrote to astronauts,

engineers, start-ups, even launchpad maintenance crews.

If you are vaguely space adjacent,

chances are you got a message from me that week.

Most didn't reply.

Some sent polite no's,

but then one came back from Houston.

Hi, Francis. Transmission received.

If you want to learn what it takes to become an astronaut,

there's no better place than to come visit Axiom Space.

Please come by and visit.

We'd love to host you and show you around.

I had received a message from Matt Ondler,

the chief strategy officer at Axiom Space.

Founded in 2016 and already backed by NASA,

they were one of the bold new players reshaping the industry

from the ground up.

It's a very slick video.

So Axiom are at the forefront

of kind of commercial space exploration.

They're creating the space station that's going

to take over from the International Space Station.

This is going to lead to kind of some pretty significant advances

in manufacturing in space, too.

They are also training the next generation of astronauts.

They weren't bound by the old rules. And that meant maybe -

just maybe - someone like me had a way in.

This is like the new era of space.

Matt is one of the figureheads in this video,

and he's reached out to me directly.

Like... HE CHUCKLES

The power of social media is baffling,

but obviously that can only take one so far,

and I feel like I need to carry my kind of engineering expertise

through to this meeting.

I couldn't believe I'd been invited to meet with Axiom.

Over the next few days, I watched their video countless times.

I booked myself on the next flight to Texas

and packed the essentials - passport, toothbrush,

and my Moulton TSR 9+ bicycle in powder pink,

which was actually designed by my great, great uncle.

Nice use of the arm span.

Going through the packing and everything,

it feels a bit weird knowing that I'm leaving you,

but it's...

It's a journey for me

in my passion and kind of lifelong interest.

And I will come out the other side probably

a bit more brave and more knowledgeable and...

And with 21 pairs of dirty pants.

I've got something to give you before you go.

- Aw. - It's just in the car. Is the car open?

- Yeah. - OK.

- Aw. - Just a little something for you

- to open on our anniversary. - Aw, darling.

- Aw. - Do you like the spacey-themed wrapping?

Yeah.

Saying goodbye to Amy and receiving a gift

that I wasn't allowed to open yet

suddenly made everything feel overwhelmingly real.

- I love you so much. - Off you go! - Love you, darling.

Love you, too. Bye!

I wanted to try and relax myself, so I headed to the runway

observation deck for some plane spotting.

I was trying to remember why more modern air engines

have serrated engine cowlings.

I'm pretty sure it's to do with noise emissions.

Um...

Do you think they'll let me ask

the pilot about the serrated cowlings?

I noticed on some of the more modern aircraft,

they have the serrated engine cowlings around the edge?

- I'm in my element here. - Look here.

Whoa!

Terrain awareness test start.

I've got goose bumps on my arms.

As I cruised across the Atlantic,

I couldn't quite believe I was about to land in America.

This wasn't just a new country. It was a whole new chapter.

I was going to the home of Mission Control,

where all the walls echo with voices of Apollo,

and the streets are lined with people

who have helped shape the future of humanity.

I imagined landing in Texas to blue skies.

THUNDER CRACKS

Instead, I was greeted by torrential rain.

But I didn't mind. I was in Houston, about to try and prove to one of

the most cutting-edge space companies

on Earth that I could qualify as one of their astronauts.

It was the day of my meeting with Axiom.

I knew making a good impression was vital

if I wanted to get a place on their astronaut training programme.

And from the moment I arrived,

I couldn't help but be blown away by the scientific

and mechanical excellence on display.

This is very, very cool.

In the reception area, they had

a scale model of the space station they are currently building.

I suppose it would be going about this fast.

I thought I might one day find myself

docking through this very hatch.

I started to imagine myself actually living in space,

floating between the modules,

doing vital scientific research

and drifting off to sleep in zero gravity.

So would I actually sleep in here?

- Yeah. - Right. OK. - You have a sleeping bag on the right,

and then you would strap yourself in so you don't float away.

My usual style of sleeping is kind of on my side,

and it actually has been kind of counterproductive for my posture.

So perhaps microgravity sleeping could really be quite corrective.

Yeah.

Thank you.

I was confident I was making a good impression, as I was introduced to

one of Axiom's astronaut trainers and operational leaders.

- Hey. - Hello. - Lovely to meet you. - Lovely to meet you as well. - Wow.

And welcome to our mission control centre.

I'm in charge of the timeline operations.

So when crew goes on board,

they have a schedule to follow every day.

I even get to plan their, like, lunches and snack times. So...

What they're having for lunch or when they're having lunch?

- Oh, no. WHEN they're having lunch. - OK.

"You're having chilli con carne today."

SHE LAUGHS

We seemed to have a really strong professional rapport

and the workplace banter was off the charts,

so I thought it was the right time to inquire

about getting myself a job.

How long is the training programme?

- If you're referring to our astronaut training programme... - Yes.

Absolutely. So actually we've achieved it in under a year

- at this point. - Really? - Yes, it's quite a year, but, yes.

Interesting.

Who is kind of eligible for the training programmes?

Um, really, anyone in the global community,

- anyone that's interested in space. - So, for example,

say if I wanted to go through the training process...

- Yeah. - ..how would I kind of initiate that?

Reach out to our team, and, you know,

if it's an interest of yours, we can definitely explore those

possibilities to get you involved in some manner.

Yeah, well, it sounds amazing

that there's already this potential avenue.

- Absolutely. - Unfortunately, my subtle approach

was probably a bit too subtle,

so I decided to double down.

I mean, I can... I've got my... I can get my CV in a good position.

Um, genuinely, where best would I be able

to give, like, an application, for example?

Um, I would reach out to maybe our business office.

- OK. - I don't know the answer to that. Sorry!

- Call me! I'm kidding. - Sorry.

LAUGHTER

My job prospects remained uncertain.

But Kristen did point me in the direction of something

truly special -

to see the suit that would eventually be worn by

the next astronaut to walk on the moon,

and, hopefully, one day me.

It was being made by hand.

Every seam, every stitch, crafted with care.

And with a particular interest in materials engineering,

I couldn't wait to get my hands on

the aluminised Kapton film and the neoprene nylon ripstop.

So this is our Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit,

or spacesuit. This is the suit that astronauts will

use on their next return to the moon.

- Wow. Can I touch it? - Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

It's fascinating, even just looking at this kind of joint here

and how there almost seems to be so much flexibility.

But then I'm thinking, "How is it sealed?" You know?

Exactly. That is...

That is some of the magic of a spacesuit.

It is a beautiful bit of kit, really.

- Yes. - It's so well put together and so satisfying to look at.

We partnered with Prada to help make the overall aesthetic of the suit

a bit more appealing,

and something we can more connect with.

Test engineer Sebastian climbed into

the suit and acclimatised to the pressure,

and I was asked to come up

with some experiments to put the suit through its paces.

- Hello, Sebastian. - How are you? - Nice to meet you.

Let's go ahead and do a squat.

I was staggered by the extraordinary range of mobility

the suit enjoyed.

Keen to tap into my engineering mind,

I was tasked by the team

to conduct further research on the suit.

Subconsciously, do you feel inclined to kind of jump?

- And if so, could you? - Can I? - Sure.

You can do a small jump.

- Wow! Nice. - That was quite impressive. - That's very agile.

I don't know if anyone's ever asked someone to jump in the suit.

That was an original question.

I was on a roll.

The team seemed to like my out-of-the-box research techniques.

Could I see if he could pick up my phone?

- Sure. - Please may you grab my phone? - Absolutely.

Dropped it in the regolith.

- There you go. - There you go. - Thank you very much.

That's very kind of you.

SMATTERING OF APPLAUSE

That's very impressive.

And if there were to be a scenario where someone

were to drop their phone on the moon,

then at least we know now that it's possible to retrieve it.

I left the suit lab satisfied that in some small way

I had contributed to the future of space exploration,

and I was pleasantly surprised

when I was called to meet with Matt Ondler himself,

the man overseeing everything Axiom is striving to achieve.

Thank you so much for having me.

It's a great pleasure to be here.

Well, it's a pleasure for us to have you.

Thanks. Is there somewhere I can put my jacket?

Yeah, absolutely.

This was my final shot to impress them, so it was vital

I didn't say or do anything that could ruin my chances.

So this is a prototype of a hatch.

We're building our station and our suit

to accommodate a 5th percentile female,

all the way to a 95th percentile man.

When I was born, my head was

in the 99th percentile in circumference.

- Interesting. - Could I have a go? - Oh, please.

Oh!

That's a very satisfying mechanism.

MATT CHUCKLES

I love... I like feeling the increase of resistance

- when kind of the rollers are in contact. - Yep, yep.

- And that's locked in place. - And then it comes over centre.

- Yep. And locks in place. - Oh! That's really nice.

Oh!

Wow.

Very, very cool.

Matt seemed genuinely impressed by my enthusiasm

for locking mechanisms and pressure seals.

If ever there were a moment to make my move, this was it.

I climbed into the prototype display module of

a crew pod located in reception,

and made my pitch for the stars.

What's kind of your application process

like to kind of become an astronaut?

Yeah. So right now we don't really have an application process.

I think we do have, you know,

a place on our website that you can apply.

There is a pathway for individuals to be part of human space flight.

But if I'm honest,

- I think you might need a bit more experience and training. - OK.

It seemed I might have got my hopes up too soon

and my mission here had come to a stop.

I suppose in the back of my head I was thinking

if I could demonstrate my excitement

and engineering expertise that maybe I could...

There could be an open door there. But...

They need people well kind of in the depths of kind of

engineering research,

scientific research, ideally experience piloting

helicopters or aircraft.

The only thing I have experience of piloting is this and my car.

I'd come to America chasing a dream.

But perhaps the truth was I wasn't ready yet.

There's a rather satisfying storm drain underneath

that flyover.

In the UK, the centrifuge had hit me hard and exposed my limits.

My body needed to be stronger and my mind sharper,

especially to conquer the fear of something going wrong.

So I dug into the science and found out

that all potential astronauts need

to learn to spot the signs of hypoxia,

which, similar to the centrifuge, is a lack of oxygen to the brain.

OK, here we go.

Can you see?

So everyone has their oxygen masks on.

So I got in touch with a facility

in Florida who specialise

in this aspect

of astronaut training,

and they agreed to put me through my paces.

So it's basically a metal tube where they suck out the oxygen

and monitor you whilst your critical functions shut down.

That sounds awful.

Just think of the iced chai latte you can have once you're done.

OK. Love you. Bye.

Welcome to our facility.

I am the president of the American College of Hyperbaric Medicine.

I am so excited that you're here to experience

what it's like to experience hypoxia,

or what it's like to become an astronaut.

What is hypoxia and what does it mean for the body?

So hypoxia is where the brain

doesn't have enough oxygen to function. And so basically

to preserve itself, it starts shutting down.

Now, you are going to be the one without an oxygen mask, which means

you have usable consciousness of only three to five minutes.

- Right. - Now we're going to see if you have what it takes

to not pass out.

- OK. - Nervous?

Uh, yes.

Dr Tyler explained that a hyperbaric chamber

wasn't just a cylindrical metal anxiety tube.

It was designed to slowly suck out all the oxygen

inside to simulate conditions astronauts might experience

if there was a sudden loss of pressure in their spacecraft,

denying them vital oxygen and potentially leading to disaster.

But as I stepped inside,

I quickly realised this wasn't just another test.

It was a return to the feeling I feared the most -

losing control of a situation and passing out.

As the door sealed,

my mind drifted back to the spin

and the blackout and the silence that followed.

Three, two, one.

This was supposed to be a new challenge...

Whoa! OK, I can't see anything.

..but it opened up an old wound.

Francis, can you hear us?

Sorry. Do you mind if I just have a moment?

- Um, I just need to... - You need a moment?

- Yeah, if that's OK? - Open the door for him.

Sorry. It's just a bit overwhelming.

Yeah. I... Sorry.

- Don't be sorry. - I'll be totally honest,

like, I find the capsule quite

overwhelming in a way. Kind of just being locked in.

- Absolutely. - But I suppose in this scenario,

I'm really seeing the usefulness

of how pushing past the boundaries

of my comfort zone will give me a tool.

I get it, you are trusting us to take care of you,

- and just know that's the highest honour. - OK.

Um... And...

OK, fine.

- OK, I'm going to do it. - All right?

If I was really going to become an astronaut,

I knew I'd have to push through these

difficult moments. As the camera crew

and Dr Tyler put on their oxygen masks,

I became acutely aware that I was the only one

in the chamber raw-dogging the atmosphere.

- Can you hear Alyssa? - Hello, Alyssa? - Can you hear me?

- I can indeed. - If at any point during the flight

- you start feeling any symptoms, just call them out to me, OK? - OK.

The test involved removing the oxygen,

which was the equivalent of being at 24,000ft above sea level,

an altitude where I'd almost certainly pass out.

Oh. OK. Calm down. Focus on the numbers.

The chamber is approaching 15,000ft.

I can feel my lips are starting to get a little bit cold.

OK.

I had to call-out my symptoms as I felt them,

so in the future, if I was to experience

a lack of oxygen in a spacecraft,

I'd be able to recognise what was happening

and take emergency measures before disaster struck.

We're going to take the chamber up just a little bit higher.

I've noticed my feet are feeling slightly cold.

- Your feet as well? - Yeah.

Um, I'm feeling slightly woozy.

- Woozy. OK. - Feels like there's

a bit of kind of pressure, in a way, in my stomach.

Apologies if I'm introducing a new gas to this scenario.

So I'd say my vision is going slightly speckly.

Do you want to continue? Or would you like to go back to surface?

Um, I'm happy to proceed a bit longer.

I'm feeling like my mouth is slightly...

Uh, it's tricky to find its position,

and there's kind of almost little, like, pin pricks

in my chest, in a way.

The symptoms were subtle at first.

Slowed coordination, delayed speech.

But Dr Tyler had seen them all before.

Hypoxia was setting in, and I was

minutes away from blacking out again.

Two minutes.

- I'm now feeling slightly woozy. - OK.

Uh, and my head's feeling slightly wobbly.

Go ahead and put your mask on.

- Put your mask on. - What? - Put your mask on. - OK.

- Ooh. - Yeah. I can tell you're starting to feel it.

Yep. Put your mask on.

Hey.

Woo!

I feel very... I feel very euphoric.

Past the point of being reoxygenated,

I feel euphoric just having done it.

- Back on Earth. - Wow.

I feel like I need to go, like,

into a quiet space for a moment, because it was quite a lot.

Um, I'm... I now know my symptoms of hypoxia.

It's kind of like I've added a tool to my inventory.

I'd faced my fear of blacking out,

but now it was time to push things further.

I wanted to feel physically

what astronauts experience when they leave Earth's grip.

So I booked a seat on a specially modified plane

that simulates zero gravity through parabolic flight.

It's one thing operating on solid ground,

but what does it take to function mentally

and physically when gravity disappears?

And to see if I could

do something complicated whilst floating,

I contacted Space Forge, a UK company developing re-entry

heat shields for satellites.

I asked if they had anything I could

test mid-flight and to my surprise they said yes.

So Space Forge, they've sent me a package.

I wonder if this has come all the way from Wales.

Socks!

This looks like some kind of prototype.

"Hi, Francis. In this box is a small model

"of our origami-based heat shield.

"Can you try and film it

"opening or deploying on a parabolic flight?

"Good luck. Space Forge team."

We've got an hour and 20,

so I'll get this down me,

and then I'll focus on the origami.

I can even, um, do some egg origami.

That ended up concertina-ing

in my mouth, in a similar way to the heat shield.

I had nailed breakfast,

and now it was time for me to nail my mission

as an ambassador for a bona fide space engineering company.

I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride

as I prepared for launch,

especially as I was going to be joined on

the flight by astronaut Danny Olivas,

which only added to the significance of what I was about to do.

We're looking forward to seeing you on board.

- Thank you. - All right.

I stowed my heat shield safely in my flight suit pocket,

and as the nerves slowly built, I looked to the fish

in their own zero gravity world for reassurance.

Wow.

I'm not feeling so nervous any more.

The feeling of excitement is more kind of at the forefront now.

I'm really, really looking forward to this.

As I strapped my GoPro to my head,

I couldn't help but wonder if this was how astronauts felt

as they were about to leave the Earth.

This is very bizarre.

As I lay down on the padded floor of the Boeing 727,

I allowed myself to feel a small

sense of achievement in how far I'd come.

I'd conquered fears, overcome rejections,

and now I was about to experience something wonderful,

something unique that tied me to astronauts, past and present.

Slowly, gently, the weight of the world began to lift.

GASPING Whoa!

Woohoo!

LAUGHTER

Whoa!

Whee! Whee!

Oh!

Sorry!

I knew I had work to do. But first I wanted to float

and let my body truly feel my childhood dream.

I was actually weightless.

Nothing in my life had felt quite like this.

Whoa! Woohoo!

I cannot believe what I'm experiencing.

It just completely defies everything

that you've ever learned about moving your body.

Hang on, I'm feeling a bit sick. Yeah, I need a bag.

How was it?!

It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life,

and it quickly became the most horrendous experience

of my life.

Around parabola 12,

I started considering what I needed to do with the prototype.

And then I was overcome with nausea.

My face was covered in it because it was

Zero-G and it was coming out of the bag back on my face.

I'm afraid Space Forge, you know,

it's mission failed.

Yeah...

I mean, at least their prototype isn't tainted with my stomach acid.

Because it never made it out of the pocket?

I didn't get it out of my pocket.

- Are we eight...? Are we eight hours behind? - Yeah.

Hang on.

Just realised it's mine and Amy's anniversary.

And I haven't spoken to her today.

And it's now about 4, 4:30,

like a quarter past midnight.

I couldn't get a hold of Amy, but back at the hotel,

I remembered the present she'd given me before I left.

A reminder that I will always be by your side,

down on earth or up in space.

Happy anniversary.

I love you to the moon and back. Amy.

PHONE RINGING

Hi, darling. I know you're probably asleep,

but I just wanted to thank you for the model of us.

I really, really love it.

And honestly, I've been thinking,

I've been so focused on my dream

that I've forgotten to think about us and our future.

You know, they train astronauts for vacuum exposure,

system failure, even re-entry burn.

But no-one really tells you what to do

when you just miss someone.

I'm not feeling my shiniest self.

There's a karaoke bar down the road

which I'm going to check out.

And I'll call you when you wake up. Love you.

SINGING

Can I have a Virgin Mary, please?

Yeah, absolutely.

Can I have a bit more Worcestershire sauce?

Oh, yeah. Of course.

- Is that good? - Yeah, yeah. You can leave the bottle.

- Thanks. - That bad, huh?

I've been trying to see if I can become an astronaut,

and it isn't quite what I thought it would be

in a way. And, like, I'm missing home.

I'm missing my girlfriend on a special day.

I really think you should get up there and sing a song.

I think it would make you feel better.

- What song do you think? - I'll put it in for you.

Go on up there.

- Are you sure? - Yeah. Absolutely. - Sure.

Francis's emotions were in pieces,

and now a stranger behind a bar had just told him to sing.

There was no helmet or mission brief,

just a microphone and a room full of tipsy Americans.

But here's the thing about training to become an astronaut,

it's not just about surviving the tests.

It's about holding your orbit when gravity pulls you sideways

and facing the light when the instinct is to shut your eyes.

Woo!

Francis didn't know how the crowd would react.

He didn't even know what note he'd be starting on.

But in a way, that's what made this

the purest part of his training so far.

# She packed my bags last night pre-flight

# Zero hour, 9am

# And I'm gonna be high

# As a kite by then... #

Yeah!

# And I think it's going to be a long, long time

# Till touchdown brings me round again to find

# I'm not the man they think I am at home

# Oh, no, no, no

# I'm a rocket man

# Rocket man... #

Woo!

- Yeah! - Yeah! - Woo!

# And I think it's going to be a long, long time

# Till touchdown brings me round again to find

# I'm not the man they think I am at home

# Oh, no, no, no

# I'm a rocket man

# Rocket man! #

As he sang his heart out,

Francis realised that before you can escape Earth's gravity,

you have to learn how to carry your own.

He wasn't ready to give up, because Francis's path to the stars

was never meant to be a straight line.

A special guest from the UK, Francois Bourgeois.

- Are you OK? - He's not talking. He's not talking.

Our spirits at the moment are just dancing together.

I feel like I'm making a decision

that is having an impact on someone who I love.

I'm totally overwhelmed.

- Whoa! - Oh, my goodness.

That's one of my new favourite noises,

alongside the Paxman-Ruston 16RK3CTs.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media