Tim Peake and Ilan Eshkeri to present Space Station Earth at the Royal Albert Hall

A special concert event will see a live orchestra accompany visual footage taken from the International Space Station.

Presented by award-winning composer Ilan Eshkeri and created with the European Space Agency, the event will run at the Royal Albert Hall on 15 May 2022 with tickets on sale this Friday.

Blending live performance and mostly never-before-seen footage captured by the actual astronauts on the Space Station, the experience is created alongside famed space explorer Tim Peake.

After its run at the Royal Albert Hall the piece will tour through the U.K. and Europe with special guest ESA astronauts who
will participate in a pre-show Q&A with Eshkeri (Peake will appear in London).

He explained today: "There aren't many words that can truly
describe the beauty of seeing Earth from space. But Space Station Earth attempts to do this, using music and video, to capture the emotion of human spaceflight and exploration.

"Featuring previously unreleased footage from ESA astronauts and accompanied by a live orchestra, the show creates a unique experience, one that that celebrates space and unites the audience, just as exploration unites humankind."

Eshkeri commented: "My music has taken to me to many
unexpected and extraordinary places, but when astronaut Tim Peake got in touch to say he was a fan of my work a door was opened to one of the most amazing and inspiring journeys of my life, the result of which is Space Station Earth.

"There are so many facts and figures about travelling to the International Space Station, but no one has ever told the emotional journey that astronauts go on. A journey that has startlingly similar experiences for astronauts from all corners of the world, and it was this realisation that inspired me to create Space Station Earth.

"Deciding to direct the film element was ambitious for a composer. I had a sense of what I wanted to achieve and an incredible team both on location and in the edit. ESA provided
unprecedented access, I got to see rocket launches, a zero-gravity flight, and a chance to get lost in their video archive as well as the opportunity to get advice from ESA scientists and Astronauts."