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Pensioner thought British astronaut Tim Peake ‘had been out down the pub’ after he phoned her by mistake from ISS

Betty Barker, 79, said she put the phone down because she didn’t want to 'take any more notice' of the astronaut  

Monday 28 December 2015 10:56 GMT
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Tim Peake
Tim Peake (PA)

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The pensioner who Tim Peake accidently called from space said she thought the British astronaut “had been out down the pub”.

Betty Barker, a 79-year-old retired teacher, told the Daily Mirror: “He said, "Hello, is that planet Earth?" So I said "no".

“I thought it was someone who had been out down the pub who was having me on.

“Then because it was quiet with no giggling or noise from a pub I thought it was someone looking to go to a nightclub called Planet Earth.”

Mrs Barker said she put the phone down because she didn’t want to “take any more notice of it”.

The pensioner explained that she had no idea what had happened until her husband Patrick, 84, saw the story on the news a few days later.

British astronaut Tim Peake had previously tweeted an apology for calling the wrong number from the International Space Station, assuring Mrs Barker it wasn’t a prank call.

A former major in the Army, he is employed by the European Space Agency and is the first Briton to join the ISS crew.

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