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A very long-distance wrong number

Brandon ConradisDecember 25, 2015

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station has said he accidentally dialed the wrong person from space, asking "Hello, is this planet Earth?" He later went on Twitter to apologize to the woman.

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Tim Peake in space
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot

One earthbound woman presumably experienced quite a festive shock when astronaut Tim Peake inadvertently dialed her from outer space.

Peake, the first Briton to represent the European Space Agency aboard the International Space Station (ISS), took to Twitter on Friday to say he was sorry for the mishap.

Peake, a 43-year-old former army helicopter pilot, left Earth for ISS last week for the beginning of a 171-day mission.

He also used Twitter to wish earthlings a Merry Christmas - as well as to share a picture of a Stoke City Football Club flag in space, fulfilling a promise he'd made to fellow Stoke fan Andrew Rushton.

Peake is accompanied on his mission by Russian astronaut Yuri Malenchenko and Timothy Kopra from the USA. They joined up with Sergey Volkov, Mikhail Kornienko and Commander Scott Kelly on board the station. Kelly is almost 9 months into a year-long stay in space.

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