British astronaut Tim Peake begins mission on International Space Station

The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-19M space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasts off at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015.

Sharples High School live streamed the launch so pupils could witness Major Peake, aged 43, making history as the first fully British professional astronaut to be employed by a space agency.

But Peake is Britain’s first publicly funded British astronaut and the first Briton to visit the International Space Station.

Mr Peake is part of a three-man team with NASA’s Tim Kopra and commander Yuri Malenchenko, and the trio were in a Soyuz spacecraft as it lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11.03am. His first scientific endeavor is already underway: During his transit from Earth to ISS in the Soyuz rocket, Peake was expected to complete a survey on any head aches he experienced.

“We hope that Major Peake’s work on the Space Station will serve as an inspiration to a new generation of scientists and engineers”.

The journey should take about six hours, according to NASA, during which the craft will orbit the Earth four times at 28,800 kilometres per hour.

They will join the three astronauts now on board the platform, which has been continuously occupied since November, 2000.

The first official United Kingdom astronaut will perform a six month tour aboard the space station, performing a variety of experiments to further science and space knowledge as well as keeping us updated on social media.

“I guess I’m substantially more grateful for the job that I have and appreciate what opportunities I have available to me”, said Kopra, now 52.

“After a gap of 24 years since Helen Sharman flew to the Mir space station, the Union (Jack) flag is going to be flown and worn in space once again”, Peake said.

“We’ve finally arrived”, Malenchenko radioed down in Russian as the astronauts began to secure the vehicle to the side of the station.

Peake’s voyage has helped millions of Britons rediscover an excited interest in outer space.

For decades, cost-conscious British governments declined to invest in human space flight, confining the U.K.’s space contribution to robotic missions.