A Russian space capsule carrying three astronauts – Major Tim Peake from Britain, NASA’s Timothy Kopra from the United States and Russian Yuri Malenchenko – blasted off for the International Space Station on Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
This makes Major Peake Britain’s first official astronaut. The former helicopter test pilot had answered an Internet advert titled "Do you want to become an astronaut" posted by the European Space Agency, following which he spent six years training for the project, The Telegraph said.
Minutes after the first-time astronaut took off for the International Space Station, UK Prime Minister David Cameron sent him a video message saying that everyone on Earth will be watching his mission with “admiration and wonder.”
During their six-month-long mission, the astronauts will carry out experiments to assess the impact of space flight on the human body. These trials are crucial ahead of a NASA's plans for a manned mission to Mars. The three astronauts will join Russians Sergey Volkov and Mikhail Korniyenko and American Scott Kelly, who are already aboard the space station.
They launched into orbit at 11.30 am GMT (4.30 pm IST) and are expected to reach the space station in six hours.
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