Out of this world: Welsh schoolgirl’s spacesuit praised by astronaut Tim Peake

A Welsh schoolgirl is over the moon after her spacesuit was praised by renowned astronaut Tim Peake.

Mared Jones, 6-years-old, from Gwynedd, was told by Peake, who spent 173 days on the International Space Station, that she’d “nailed it” after he saw a photo of her wearing her suit.

The picture had been shared on Twitter by Mared’s proud mum Niki Jones, who says her daughter is “madly in love with space” and wears her space gear on a daily basis.

Tim Peake, from Chichester Sussex, whose videos from space became an online sensation in 2016, said: “Great flight suit Mared! You’ll need a lid for that juice to stop it floating out in weightlessness – but otherwise you’ve nailed it”.

Great flight suit Mared! You'll need a lid for that juice to stop it floating out in weightlessness – but otherwise you've nailed it 🚀

— Tim Peake (@astro_timpeake) June 9, 2021

Niki, who is also a YesCymru committee member, told Nation.Cymru: “She loves Tim Peake because we showed her some of the videos of him whilst he was in space and there was this video where he was doing these things with a water bubble, which she absolutely loved.

“Today I uploaded a picture, a screenshot to her school’s learning portal and all of her friends saw it and she was absolutely beaming, and they saw some videos of Tim Peake in space.

“And so, she’s just come back and everyone was so happy for her.”

‘Rocket’ 

Niki added: “So basically, over Christmas last year she asked for a space rocket, and she asked for a spacesuit. I couldn’t find a space rocket but I did find a spacesuit after looking for like absolutely hours and hours.

“It’s a really good quality on as well. The thing is the spacesuit, when she asked, I thought it was going t be one of those, she’s just going to wear it once.

“But she actually wears it. She wears it on a daily basis type of thing. Even today, if she wasn’t going to football she would be wearing her spacesuit and running around the house.”

According to Niki, Mared plans to combine voyaging through space with gastronomy.

She said: “This is quite funny. She wants to be a chef, and she wants to be an astronaut. So, she wants to be a space chef basically.

“But she wants to do it this way. She has decided she is going to have one café in space, and one café on Earth. So, on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, she’s going to be in the café on Earth, and on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, she’s going to be in the café in space, and on Sunday she’ll have a rest.

“And when she’s up in space looking after the space café, she’s got some of her school friends she’s partnered with who will look after the café on Earth. She’s got proper plans.

“She’s madly in love with space. Everything is space themed. She has got a lamp which has got an astronaut and a rocket at the bottom. She’s got a rug, she’s got a stand which is an astronaut sitting down. It’s a tablet stand, so when she attends these space-related workshops, she just puts it there.”