![\"Tim](\"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/article-images-19\/Tim_Peake.jpg\")
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(Image by ESA)<\/em><\/p>\n Visitors to this summer\u2019s Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford in the Cotswolds are being promised a truly \u2018out of this world experience!\u2019<\/p>\n Renowned for being one of the most thrilling airshows on the planet, this summer\u2019s event (July 19-21), which takes place on the 50th anniversary of the first manned moon landing, will be expanding its horizons beyond earth \u2013 to include the whole universe!<\/p>\n With its theme Air & Space: Inspiring The Next Generation Air Force, the Air Tattoo will be turning its spotlight to the heavens to look at some of the exciting and innovative ways organisations are reaching out into space. So, expect rockets, astronauts and lots of exciting entertainment and activities across the showground \u2013 including a planetarium.<\/p>\n As well as opportunities to view examples of commercial space rockets currently being developed in the UK, visitors will be able to see an ExoMars rover prototype in action as well as talk to the scientists and engineers responsible for operating it, thanks to Airbus Defence & Space.<\/p>\n Visitors on the Friday will also find themselves under the \u2018microscope\u2019 as Airbus DS\u2019s Pleiades satellite flies over RAF Fairford taking a photo of the airshow as it orbits the earth.<\/p>\n Giving his seal of approval to the Air Tattoo\u2019s Space theme will be British astronaut Major Tim Peake who will be making an appearance at the airshow on Friday, July 19. Tim, who is currently Head of Astronaut Operations at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Germany, will be at the airshow to help inspire people in the critically-acclaimed Techno Zone\u00ae.<\/p>\n Air Tattoo Chief Executive Andy Armstrong said with the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing co-inciding with the airshow in July, there was no better time to explore the many ways in which the boundaries of space are being pushed back.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the past the airshow\u2019s seen USAF U-2 aircraft that touch the edge of space but now we\u2019ll be looking to feature craft that go beyond earth\u2019s atmosphere. We\u2019re still adding space attractions and hope to announce more astronauts before July\u2019s airshow – it\u2019s truly exciting. We\u2019re particularly honoured to welcome Tim Peake who will be engaging with our young visitors on the Friday. Without doubt he\u2019ll be a huge inspiration to all the engineers, pilots and, yes, astronauts of the future!\u201d<\/p>\n Tim Peake said: \u201cI\u2019ve been wanting to attend the Royal International Air Tattoo for some time and this year\u2019s \u2018Space\u2019 theme presented the perfect opportunity. I\u2019m really looking forward to it!\u201d<\/p>\n RAF Fairford, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, was NASA\u2019s only UK transatlantic abort landing site for the Space Shuttle and in 1983 hosted a visit by the spacecraft which was secured on the back of a jumbo jet bound for the Paris Air Show.<\/p>\n Tickets for the airshow, which is staged annually in support of the RAF Charitable Trust, can be purchased online at www.airtattoo.com<\/a> or by calling 01285 713456. All accompanied under-18s go free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Image by ESA) Visitors to this summer\u2019s Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford in the Cotswolds are being promised a truly \u2018out of this world experience!\u2019 Renowned for being one of the most thrilling airshows on the planet, this summer\u2019s event (July 19-21), which takes place on the 50th anniversary of the first manned … Continue reading Air Tattoo Visitors Will Be Over The Moon<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[305,61,10,179],"class_list":["post-1803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uk-airshow-news","tag-305","tag-march","tag-news","tag-royal-international-air-tattoo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1803"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1804,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1803\/revisions\/1804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAs part of the European Space Agency (ESA), Tim was the first British ESA astronaut to visit the International Space Station, launching on a Soyuz rocket in December 2015 and returning to earth six months later having taken part in a variety of activities including conducting a spacewalk to repair the Station’s power supply.<\/p>\n