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Tim Peake says that his time in the heavens as an astronaut did not prompt any spiritual experiences but he did entertain the idea that the universe was the result of intelligent design.

The spaceman, speaking from Peterborough Cathedral at a display of the Soyuz capsule that brought him back from the International Space Station in 2016, said that the views of Earth had inspired wonder rather than faith, but that his mind was still open.

“Although I say I’m not religious it doesn’t necessarily mean that I don’t seriously consider that the universe could have been created from intelligent design,” he said. “There are many things in science that lead us towards that conclusion. From a point of view of seeing how magnificent the Earth is from space and seeing the cosmos from a different perspective, it helps you to relate to that.

“That’s the macro level. When you look at the smaller scale, the micro level, and you understand quantum mechanics and quantum physics, there are many things that lead us . . . towards intelligent design of the universe.”

The idea is rejected by some scientists but even Richard Dawkins, the most prominent critic of religion on scientific grounds, has said that there is “an intriguing possibility” that “at some earlier time somewhere in the universe a civilisation evolved by probably some kind of Darwinian means to a very, very, high level of technology and designed a form of life that they seeded on to perhaps this planet”.


Professor Dawkins said that this did not suggest that creation happened spontaneously. “That higher intelligence would itself have had to have come about by some explicable, or ultimately explicable, process. He couldn’t have just jumped into existence spontaneously, that’s the point.”

Major Peake said that he was fascinated by the question but could not offer any answers.

Asked whether he had had spiritual experiences when in space, he said: “I don't think so. Personally my experience on the space station is one of a change of perspective rather than one of a spiritual experience.

“What I think is important is whether we feel we have a purpose. It doesn’t matter whether you believe in God or not . . . Our sense of purpose should be about how we lead our lives and our relationships with others. That’s what I believe in.”

Major Peake’s Soyuz TMA-19M capsule will be at Peterborough Cathedral until November 5 as part of a national tour organised by the Science Museum.