Russian Space Carrying 3 Astronauts Blasted Off For ISS

Astronaut Jean Francois Clervoy joins over 500 school children at W5 to watch the live launch of the first British ESA astronaut to join the crew on the International Space Station (ISS).

US astronaut Tim Kopra, a member of the main crew of the expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), gestures from a bus prior to the launch of Soyuz TMA-19M space ship at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015.

Peake, Kopra and Malenchenko will return on Earth in June of 2016, while Kelly, Kornienko and Volkov are expected to return home on March 1, 2016 after completing a year-long mission.

Malenchenko was particularly up to the task: He is a veteran of six space missions, both to the International Space Station and Russia’s Mir space station, and he has commanded the Soyuz during launch multiple times.

Former army aviator and helicopter test pilot Major Peake is the first Briton to join the crew of the ISS.

The astronaut also received some warm words of support from the Queen, who published a letter to Peake penned by her and Prince Phillip saying she hoped the mission would “serve as an inspiration to a new generation of scientist and engineers”. “You show up and you jump right into the scientific programme, the technical work, the maintenance”.

Docking with the ISS is usually a completely automatic process, however the Soyuz craft was not properly aligned with the station when it reached 25 metres so manual controls were implemented.

Other Britons who have flown into space did so either as private individuals – Richard Garriott and Mark Shuttleworth – or by taking United States citizenship – the Nasa astronauts Piers Sellers and Nicholas Patrick.

Major Peake could be identified by the Union Flag on his sleeve.

Kopra took the picture back in 2009 and Echo & The Bunnymen returned the goodwill today well wishing Tim Peake and Tim Kopra safe trips to the ISS. In that time, more than 200 people from 15 countries have visited.

Peake replied that the ISS has the movie waiting for them up there.