LONDON: The Soyuz space capsule carrying UK astronaut Tim Peake is in orbit around the Earth, heading for the International Space Station (ISS).
Major Tim and fellow crew members Russian Yuri Malenchenko and American Tim Kopra are due to dock with the ISS. The former Army pilot is making history as the first official UK astronaut.
He was waved off by his wife and two sons at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan earlier on Tuesday. The launch was from the same place where Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space in 1961.
At blast-off, the rocket generated 422.5 tonnes of thrust – equivalent to 26 million horse power.
The launch went with no reported problems and after one minute, the rocket was soaring upwards at 1,000mph (1,600km/h).
After two minutes, the four boosters strapped around the rocket were jettisoned. Zero gravity was reached by the Soyuz spacecraft after nine minutes of travel.
