Tim Peake's spacewalk

I've noticed Tim has been flaunting the British flag in all sorts of ways since he arrived on the station.  He even had his whole bunker area curtained in a large union jack!

I think all this attention on Tim Peake is great even though there has been other British  astronauts before him.  Inspiring for younger generations, any gen really and Tim looks to be a great model with that contrasting smile (compared to his colleagues).   I dont recall previous British astronauts getting anywhere this much attention and coverage?   I've enjoyed and learnt quite a bit from the Stargazing series this year and especially coverage of the spacewalk.  Those pulsar spin rates are mind boggling btw!

FYI, while Tim Peake is the seventh Brit in space, all the others were either dual nationality US/UK Nasa astronauts or privately-funded (space tourists or, as in Helen Sharman's case, partly-private, partly-Russian funded).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_space_programme#British_astronauts

So Tim Peake is our first home-grown, UK-funded, flag-carrying astronaut - not to take anything away from the achievements of the others, especially Helen Sharman.