'Is this planet Earth?': British astronaut apologizes after dialing wrong number from space station
Astronaut Tim Peake is the first British astronaut to travel to the International Space Station. (Agence France-Presse/Kirill Kudryavstev)

Tim Peake, the first British astronaut on the International Space Station, dialed a wrong number after trying to phone home, asking a woman "is this planet Earth?".


"I'd like to apologize to the lady I just called by mistake saying 'Hello, is this planet Earth?' -- not a prank call... just a wrong number!" he tweeted late Thursday.

Peake, 43, became the first British astronaut to travel to the space station after blasting off from the Moscow-operated Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan earlier this month for a six-month mission.