Tim Peake: UK astronaut set for space milestone

[IF]

UK astronaut Tim Peake is ready to make his landmark flight to the International Space Station (ISS).

The ex-helicopter pilot - with American Tim Kopra and Russian Yuri Malenchenko - will launch on a Russian Soyuz rocket at Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan.

Mr Peake is the first official UK astronaut. Previous "British" astronauts have either had US citizenship and worked for Nasa or been privately funded.

On the ISS he will conduct experiments.

He will also carry out educational activities designed to get young people interested in science.

Fuelling of the rocket has begun ahead of the launch - set for today at 11:03 GMT - from Site 1 at Baikonur, the pad where Yuri Gagarin made the first historic human spaceflight in 1961.

Read more here — > http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34991335

[IF]

Re: Tim Peake: UK astronaut set for space milestone

It will take them six hours to catch up with the space station, hurtling through space at 17,500mph.



Major Peake will spend six months on board the space station, which orbits the Earth.



The former helicopter pilot has spent six years training to become the first professional British astronaut to be employed by the European Space Agency.

A Space walk planned for sometime in January.

His mission, named Principia after Sir Isaac Newton’s work Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which described the laws of gravity, could be crucial to our understanding of life on Earth and beyond. Major Peake is conducting 23 experiments on himself to assess the impact of space flight on the human body, trials which are crucial ahead of a manned mission to Mars.

Although Helen Sharman was officially the first Britain in space, she was not representing Britain and travelled after winning a competition to visit the Mir Space Station.

[cymruambyth]

Re: Tim Peake: UK astronaut set for space milestone

I sat in the car whilst husband drove and watched it on my iPhone! Amazing.

[Pixie]

Re: Tim Peake: UK astronaut set for space milestone

I loved watching the launch yesterday. It reminded me of watching the rocket launches when I was a child. I watched it again on the tea time news with my granddaughter and she thought it was amazing.

[Deepie]

Re: Tim Peake: UK astronaut set for space milestone



Where's Scarborough ?????

[IF]

Re: Tim Peake: UK astronaut set for space milestone

Where's Scarborough ?????

You're banned from another thread!!

[Deepie]

Re: Tim Peake: UK astronaut set for space milestone

What could possibly go wrong on a spacewalk?

On Monday, astronauts on the International Space Station carried out a spacewalk in order to perform repairs. Everything went according to plan, but leaving the safety of the station is extremely dangerous and things can go wrong. What do astronauts have to watch out for?

Here ---> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34810412

[IF]

Re: Tim Peake: UK astronaut set for space milestone

Tim Peake is set to carry out the first ever spacewalk by an "official" British astronaut.

Major Peake and Nasa astronaut Tim Kopra are scheduled to step outside the International Space Station at 12:55 GMT.

They will replace a faulty component on the station's exterior, which has compromised a power channel on the outpost.

Michael Foale became the first Briton to carry out a spacewalk in 1995.

He flew under a US banner with Nasa.

"I think a spacewalk is absolutely the pinnacle of an astronaut's career," Major Peake told BBC Stargazing Live this week.

The European Space Agency (Esa) astronaut added: "We've put a huge amount of effort into this spacewalk. It's hugely exciting and we're ready to go."

The six-and-a-half hour extra-vehicular activity (EVA) - the technical term for a spacewalk - will see the two Tims replace a failed electrical box which regulates power from the solar panels.


Read more here -- > http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35273912