Ground control to Major Tim… British astronaut counts down to lift-off

British astronaut Tim Peake, a member of the next mission to the International Space Station, shows a thumbs-up after a news conference in Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Monday, Dec. 14, 2015.

Peake’s mission, Principia, centres on dozens of scientific experiments to explore how the body adapts to space, how advanced materials form in weightless conditions, and trialling new technologies, including remote control systems for operating rovers on planetary surfaces.

When the researchers arrive on the space station, they will be greeted by the present commander Scott Kelly from NASA and Rusian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov. Check out Expedition 44 stepping into the International Space Station for the first time back in July.

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On Tuesday, the former helicopter pilot will launch on a Russian Soyuz rocket at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

NASA’s Tim Kopra, an American, Russia’s Yuri Malenchenko and the European Space Agency’s Tim Peake of Great Britain embarked on an estimated journey of more than six hours from Baikonur.

Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, and British astronaut Tim Peake are launching early on Tuesday morning. Many of Peake’s family and friends were at the launch site to see him leave the planet with his 4-year-old son Oliver reportedly crying on his father’s departure and saying he wanted to go with him.

Major Peake is employed by the European Space Agency and sports a Union Jack on his sleeve.

He said: “Last tweet before launch – GO for flight!”

He said he will be pacing his space-mug, a vessel created to prevent his scalding brew floating away in zero gravity 220 miles above Earth.

Five Britons have previously travelled into space. He is embarking on his fourth space station mission. Peake is also a keen athlete, and as The Telegraph has reported, plans to run the London marathon while in space.