Three astronauts blasted off for the International Space Station on Tuesday, including the first official United Kingdom astronaut to reach the orbiting base.
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(CNN)Astronaut Tim Peake made history Tuesday, blasting off from a launchpad in Kazakhstan on his way to join the crew of the International Space Station.
The otherwise smooth journey ended with a slight delay at just after noon Eastern time as Russian commander Yuri Malenchenko aborted the automatic docking procedure and manually guided the spacecraft toward the station.
Helen Sharman swept both of those honours when she stepped on to the Mir space station 24 years ago, and five others have followed her into orbit since.
His wife, Rebecca, and two sons Thomas, six and Oliver, four, will be watching as Major Tim and his two crew companions are lifted into the sky by a Soyuz FG rocket packed with 300 tonnes of fuel.
Soyuz TMA-19M launching from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Peake, 43, became the first astronaut representing the British government and wore a Union Jack flag on his arm.
Previous “Brits in space” have either had U.S. or dual citizenship or been on privately funded or sponsored trips. The hatch was opened at 7.58pm, United Kingdom time. He looked like he’d been there six months already.
“I don’t think I’ll be setting any personal bests”, he said. “Everybody commented on how handsome it was”. “It was, like, yep, that’s it, they’re on their way”.
Wearing his space suit, Major Peake pressed himself up against a window of the bus taking him to the launch pad and blew kisses and played fist bumps with his sons.
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”.
“We’ll be enjoying the fantastic view of planet Earth and our thoughts will be with everyone on Earth enjoying Christmas and with our friends and family”.
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