Three-Man Crew Lifts Off For The International Space Station

After taking off in the Soyuz FG rocket at 11.03am United Kingdom time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan along with his two colleagues – Russian commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, Peake was already downing four cans of beans an hour.

Peake, 43, lifted off from Pad 1 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome – the same launchpad used by Sputnik, the first satellite, and Russia’s Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space – on board the Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft.

With the opening of hatches between the International Space Station (ISS) and an arriving Soyuz spacecraft, three new Expedition 46 astronauts joined the three ISS residents to continue key research that advances NASA’s journey to Mars while making discoveries that can benefit humanity.

He is the first fully British professional astronaut to be sent into space.

Elton John, who released the track Rocket Man in 1972, said on Twitter: “From one Rocket Man to another, good luck @astro-timpeake with your launch and mission!”

Major Peake entered the station with a huge smile on his face as the full crew of six joined in front of the camera to listen to congratulatory messages from family members and space travel experts watching from the ESA in Baikonur.

Before the launch, Peake tweeted: “GO for flight!”

Zero gravity was reached by the Soyuz spacecraft after nine minutes of travel.

The actual “first Briton in space” – Helen Sharman – has advised Peake to “look out of the window occasionally”, as the views of Earth from orbit “will be something that will stay with him for the rest of his life”, according to the Independent.

Major Peake said: “It was a handsome launch and we got straight into the work”. Both of them will conduct space experiments on the International Space station.

He will also be carrying out educational projects aimed at attracting young people into science, and will be running the equivalent of the London Marathon while in space.

He was working as a test pilot and instructor in 2008 when he saw an “Astronaut Wanted” ad online and applied to become the first Briton in the European Space Agency astronaut corps.

The three astronauts will return to Earth on June 5th.