Astronaut Tim Peake sends us a message from the International Space Station
Major Tim Peake has sent a message down to Earth during his first full day at the International Space Station.
The astronaut – the only one ever chosen by the European Space Agency (ESA) to go to space, took off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at just after 11am yesterday.
He then spent six hours travelling up to the ISS aboard a Russian Soyuz Rocket alongside Russian commander Yuri Malenchenkp and US astronaut Tim Kopra. The team safely arrived there in the early evening.
Now he'll spend the next six months at the station, located 250 miles above the earth. So far, things seem to be going exactly according to plan:
Hi from #ISS! What an incredible ride to space yesterday-Soyuz felt so smooth & powerful. Yuri did outstanding job getting us safely docked.
— Tim Peake (@astro_timpeake) December 16, 2015
Over the course of the mission, Peake will carry out a series of science experiments, including studying the impacts of space on his own blood pressure and bone density.
Yesterday, Peake said in a live link to family and friends: “It was a beautiful launch, that sunrise was absolutely spectacular. We also got the benefit of a moon rise which was beautiful to see.”