Soyuz rocket with 3 crew members docks with ISS

Peake, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko were lofted into orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 5:03 a.m. local time (3:03 a.m. PT).

The launch is particularly exciting for those across the pond, who will see the first British citizen arriving to serve aboard the International Space Station.

Russia’s Soyuz TMA-19M space capsule docked successfully with the International Space Station on Tuesday, bringing three astronauts to the orbiting platform.

The first Briton in space was Helen Sharmen, who travelled on a Soviet spacecraft for eight days in 1991.

Peake is to blast off Tuesday from the Russian manned space facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, along with Timothy Kopra of the United States and Russian Yuri Malenchenko.

Peake and his two travelling companions joined Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov on board the ISS.

He will be the first British astronaut to join the ISS crew — and the first “official” British astronaut in space.

Having initially started a distance away from the space station, the burns have been moving the Soyuz craft closer to the same orbit. Previously, astronauts of British origin were either privately funded or U.S. citizens representing NASA. The International Space Station showed a shot of the Soyuz climbing into space on live television.

Among them will be a UK-designed test to check for problems suffered by astronauts – including visual complications and sickness – caused by increased brain pressure. Peake said goodbye to his family – wife Rebecca and sons Thomas, six years old, and Oliver, four years old, – before setting off. Oliver cried out and said, “I want to go with Daddy”, the BBC reported.

But they made it, and Peake is now beginning his six-month stay aboard the space station. 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.

The mission is to spend six months aboard the space station.