Today is a very gallant moment for British place locomotion because , for the first time in 24 years , a British astronaut has launched into blank . Tim Peake shell off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome earlier today , and after docking afterward today , he became the first Briton ever to visit the International Space Station ( ISS ) .
“ This is tremendously significant . We ’ve finally arrived at the top table , ” Doug Millard , curator of the Science Museum in London , say at an eventthat welcome thousands of school child to watch the launch . “ Tim Peake ’s flying is very much for the body politic . ”
Tim launch in a Soyuz capsule with Russian Yuri Malenchenko and American Tim Kopra . They will join NASA ’s Scott Kelly , and Russia ’s Mikhail Korniyenko and Sergey Volkov , on the place as part of the Expedition 46/47 crew . The journeying to the ISS on the cramped Soyuz TMA-19 M spacecraft demand six hours . Tim will be staying for a total of six months , returning to Earth on June 6 , 2016 .
During his time on the station , Tim will perform 265 scientific experiments , which will include using the first - ever Raspberry Pi computers to go to space , nicknamedAstro Pi . Among other gewgaw for him already on the station is a small fry ’s book that he may study to thewinner of a contender . In April , Tim will execute the London marathon on a treadmill on the station , completing the 26.2 mile ( 42.2 kilometers ) while revolve Earth .
clearly , the launch was met with a vast amount of fervor in the U.K. The outcome at the Science Museum in London draw G of schooling children , while across the country people celebrate a second that has been a long time coming . Tim was take as an ESA astronaut in 2009 , and chosen for this mission – pleasure trip 46 , also calledPrincipia – in May 2013 .
The last Briton to launch into space was Helen Sharman , who visited the Mir outer space place in 1991 . Since then , several dual U.K.-U.S. citizenship spaceman have launched , but Tim is the first solely U.K. citizen since Sharman .
And make no mistake about it , this is a openhanded day for Britain , which not only recently revealed its firstnational space policybut is also begin toinvest heavilyin place again .
Tim Peake will hopefully constitute the starting of a Modern nidus in the U.K. on space . Who know when the next British astronaut will set up , but for now the country can revel in the cognition that at least one of their countrymen has flown into space this 100 .
agree out a replay of the launch from theBBCbelow .
