Missed normal toilet and weather aboard ISS: Tim Peake

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Astronaut Tim Peake who recently returned to earth from the International Space Station (ISS) recounts that he missed some of the small pleasures of life like using normal toilet and witnessing weather up there.

Since the time he has returned, he is enjoying even the smallest of pleasures on planet Earth.

But there are perks to being back home, Major Peake said in webcast comments at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, on his third day back from the international orbiter on Tuesday.

"Using the loo, gravity is your friend. That's one of the things we do look forward to," he laughed.

Maj Peake spent six months on the ISS, where relieving oneself involves the use of suction hoses to separate waste from the body.

Other things he had longed for, the 44-year-old space traveller said, were earthly smells, fresh air and rain.

"The rain, it's something that you don't feel up there... Any weather down here whatsoever feels unique and it feels very special."

(With AFP inputs)