First Englishman in Space and His Stash of Baked Beans

The new crew members are Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, US NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra, and European Space Agency astronaut Timothy Peake.

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.

Its awesome thrust will power Major Peake and two companions, Nasa’s Tim Kopra and Russian commander Yuri Malenchenko, to more than 1,000mph within a minute of lift-off.

A rocket has blasted off carrying British astronaut Major Tim Peake to the International Space Station (ISS).

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

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh congratulated Major Peake on his arrival at the space station. “We will be following his progress with great interest and wish him a safe return to earth next year”.

In the end the docking went smoothly and the Soyuz was firmly attached to the space station.

His first scientific task is already underway: During his transit from Earth to ISS in the Soyuz rocket, Peake was expected to fill out a questionnaire on any headaches he experienced.

According to Sharman, the launch day is absolutely special as it’s the day when astronauts get the chance of doing what they have been trained for doing for such a long time.

Only five British-born people have gone into space before; the first being on a privately-funded mission in 1991 and the other four having taken United States citizenship.

At a press conference yesterday Maj Peake told how he was eagerly looking forward to seeing the Earth from space.

The space enthusiast, who graduated with a degree in Sport and Exercise science in 2002, said Major Peake’s space workouts would not be easy.

“In this case, we have a European astronaut of British nationality together with a Russian cosmonaut and an American astronaut in a tiny Soyuz capsule, which I always compare with a toilet in an aeroplane”.

The crew had to resort to manual docking after the automatic system didn’t work as planned.

She added that she underwent training for 18 months and said that Peake will have to be trained for 6 years before flying.

There were emotional scenes earlier when Major Peake’s family and friends, including best man and former Army Air Corps buddy Ian Curry, waved goodbye to the astronaut.