Britain's astronaut Tim Peake waves as he boards the Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome, prior to blasting off to the International Space Station (ISS), on December 15, 2015. Russia's Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft carrying the International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 46/47 crew of Britain's astronaut Tim Peake, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and US astronaut Tim Kopra is scheduled to blast off to the ISS on December 15, 2015.  AFP PHOTO / POOL / SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / AFP / POOL / SHAMIL ZHUMATOV        (Photo credit should read SHAMIL ZHUMATOV/AFP/Getty Images)
Meet Britain's first ISS astronaut
03:32 - Source: CNN

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"Hello, is this planet Earth?" Peake asks miscellaneous woman

Astronaut tweets apology, saying it was no prank

CNN  — 

Earth to astronaut Tim Peake: Check the phone number before you dial. Otherwise the person you reach is likely to think you’re some kind of nut case.

UK astronaut Tim Peake boards the Soyuz spacecraft.

Peake is a British astronaut who arrived at the International Space Station on December 15. He is spending six months there, conducting scientific experiments.

Recently, he phoned home – as in Earth – but got the number wrong.

“Hello, is this planet Earth?” Peake asked.

When he realized he’d misdialed, Peake tweeted his regret.

“I’d like to apologise to the lady I just called by mistake saying ‘Hello, is this planet Earth?’ - not a prank call…just a wrong number!” he tweeted.

So, one presumes, somewhere down here on Earth there is a woman who is either very annoyed or surprised beyond belief. So, ma’am, if you’re reading this, the call really was from space – and not just a joke by some space cadet.