Astronaut’s father speaks of pride ahead of space trip

The father of the British astronaut set to travel into space tomorrow has spoken of his pride after watching the Russian rocket that will carry his son into space being lifted onto its launch pad.

Major Tim Peake, 43, will be launched into space tomorrow at the start of a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) along with crew commander Yuri Malenchenko and American Nasa astronaut Tim Kopra. They will spend almost six months aboard the space station, which orbits the Earth at an average altitude of 350km.

Nigel Peake and his wife Angela stood near the 50m-long Soyuz FG rocket as it was manoeuvred into position ready for blast-off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Mr Peake, from Chichester, said: “We’re immensely proud. As you can imagine, it’s quite surreal to think you’re the father of an astronaut, especially a British astronaut.”

Major Peake is the second British person to take part in such a mission after Dr Helen Patricia Sharman spent eight days aboard Russia’s Mir Station in 1991.

The ISS has been continuously inhabited since 2000, and has played host to 220 visitors from 17 countries. It will take six hours for the capsule carrying Major Peake and his companions to catch up with the ISS, travelling at 27,600km/h.

During his time on the ISS, Major Peake will participate in 265 experiments, and observe the effects of microgravity on his body.

He will also contribute to the day-to-day maintenance of the space station’s life support, power and communications systems. This could involve taking space walks, as well as more down-to-earth activities such as fixing the 15-year-old suction toilets.

In April he will run the entire London Marathon on a treadmill aboard the space station.