'I thought we were facing a UFO - but it turned out to be leaking urine' – Astronaut Tim Peake tells all to Birmingham's Symphony Hall audience
British astronaut Tim Peake told an audience in the West Midlands how he mistook leaking urine for a UFO.
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Major Peake became the first British astronaut to join the International Space Station when he spent six months aboard the orbiting laboratory in 2015.
He is now embarking on a national tour to talk about his experiences as well as the history of space travel.
During his time on board the ISS, Major Peake said he once saw “three lights moving in formation”, before they were joined by a fourth.
He told an audience at Birmingham's Symphony Hall that , because of the blackness of space, he believed they were from some kind of spacecraft – and that the only explanation could be a UFO.
But it then dawned on him that the lights had a source that was far closer to home – it was created by droplets of urine that were leaking from the space station.
“We were perplexed, until we realised that what we thought were the far away lights of alien spaceships were actually very close small droplets,” Major Peake said.
“What was happening was liquid leaking out of a Russian probe vehicle, crystallising instantly and reflecting the light. What we were seeing was Russian urine.”
