It has been a while since there was a crewed mission to the International Space Station, today a Russian Soyuz rocket has lifted off a three-man international crew to the International Space Station. The crew includes Tim Peake who happens to be the first official astronaut from the United Kingdom. The mission blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
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. NASA astronaut Tim Kopra is the third man on this mission.
Peake is a former major of the British Army and he’s going up for a six month mission for the European Space Agency, he has become the first Briton to go up to space ever since Helen Sharman went up for eight days back in 1991 on a Soviet spaceship. Peake is the first astronaut that’s officially representing the British government by sporting the Union Jack flag on his arm.
The rocket is carrying the Soyuz TMA-19M spaceship to the ISS, it lifted off at 5:03 pm local time and began its six-hour flight up to the International Space Station. Some nine minutes after launch the spaceship successfully reached its designated orbit.
The trio are due to return to Earth on June 5th, that’s quite a long time and they’ll be glad that over 7,000 pounds worth of supplies has went ahead of them first to the ISS.
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