Here, the automated docking sequence aborted, backing way to 450 feet (140 meters) and leaving cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko to manually dock the spacecraft.
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He will be the first British astronaut to join the ISS crew — and the first “official” British astronaut in space.
“The exercise programme – if me or you were to do it here on Earth – would get us very fit”, Dr Scott added.
In a live link to family and friends viewing the drama on a cinema screen in a Baikonur theatre, he said of the journey: ” It was a lovely launch, that sunrise was absolutely spectacular.
“And we also got the benefit of a moonrise on the first orbit as well, which was lovely to see”, said Tim Peake who is a European Space Agency Astronaut.
A rocket carrying Briton Tim Peake has launched from a base in Kazakhstan, heading for the International Space Station.
Helen Sharman became the first British citizen to travel to space when she visited the Soviet space station Mir in 1991.
Alongside Peake is Yuri Malenchenko who is an ex-Russian Air Force pilot and who has had a few long-duration space flight in the past. And ever since then, several Brits with dual citizenship have gone into space as part of other nations’ space programs, or as an element of privately-funded missions.
A Russian orthodox priest walked around the 49m high rocket which will carry Major Peake into space, sprinkling holy water on its fuselage and boosters and muttering prayers.
Major Peake’s mission, called Prinicipia in homage to Sir Isaac Newton’s ground-breaking text on gravity and motion, will last nearly six months. The hatch was opened at 7.58pm, United Kingdom time.
Speaking before the launch, Mr Peake said: “Any time two vehicles come in close proximity in space is hazardous”.
The former Army major is the first Briton to join the crew of the ISS and is employed by Esa.
The launch was watched by Major Peake’s young children and his wife Rebecca.
Ongoing research includes the “Microbial Payload Tracking Series” project which uses microbial analysis techniques to establish a census of the microorganisms living on surfaces and in the atmosphere of the space station.
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The incoming crew replaces Expedition 45 Flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren (NASA), Oleg Kononenko (Roscosmos) and Kimiya Yui, of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, who all returned to Earth on December 11, 2015.
