THE astronaut Tim Peake has said he is “disappointed” that space travel is increasingly seen as luxury tourism for billionaires. 

Speaking at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Major Peake said the use of space had to be “for the benefit of everybody back on Earth”.

In recent months, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has promoted space travel through his Blue Origin project, taking Star Trek actor William Shatner on one trip.

The UK’s Richard Branson also went to the edge of space on his Virgin Galactic ship.

Major Peake said space travel was vital for gathering data on climate change and he didn’t want to see it associated with the new trend.

The focus on space, and the potential for one day colonising new planets, has also been criticised by campaigners who say humanity must fix its immediate problems first.

Asked how he felt about pace travel becoming the preserve of the super-rich, Major Peake said: “I personally am a fan of using space for science and for the benefit of everybody back on Earth so in that respect I feel disappointed that space is being tarred with that brush.”

He said it was not a straight choice between space exploration and tackling climate change, saying the claim that one rocket launch emits more than 300 tonnes of carbon was false.

He said: “It is important to get the facts right as well. Some of the most efficient rocket fuel is hydrogen and oxygen. Blue Origin is using that.

“So it is not 300 tonnes of carbon, There is no carbon. It is water vapour. If you burn hydrogen and oxygen it’s water vapour.

“Now water vapour in itself has problems, I am not trying to defend it or deny it, but we also have to get the facts right about what people are doing.”

Major Peake was only the sixth British person to go on board the International Space Station, and famously ran the 2016 London Marathon from its treadmill.

“At the end of the day, almost 50% of all our climate data comes from space – we need space to be a finger on the pulse of the planet,” he said.

“There is absolutely no way that we can fight climate change if we don’t know exactly what is going on and if we don’t know the consequences of the decisions we make.

“So, whether its ocean salinity, whether it is temperature, carbon dioxide output, deforestation, ice caps, it is coming from satellites, so space is required.”

Major Peake is now working with a company developing ‘Ecosene’, a low carbon rocket fuel made from waste plastic.

He said: “We can do this, we can do it sustainably, we can do it efficiently, so it is not a case of ‘Protect the climate, don’t go into space’.

“It is a case of ‘Let’s be clever about this and let’s use space for the benefit of everybody back on Earth’.”