Tim Peake launches to the space station

Tim Peake has become the first British European Space Agency astronaut to travel to the International Space Station, blasting off from Kazakhstan on a Russian rocket.

The Soyuz spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 15 December, carrying Peake, the American Tim Kopra and the Russian commander Yuri Malenchenko. It docked with the space station about six hours later.

A mission called Principia

Peake will spend six months on the station, carrying out scientific experiments and maintenance work. His mission has been named Principia, after Isaac Newton's famous work on the laws of motion and gravity.

The experiments will look at how the human body copes with living in space, as well as studies in physics and materials science.

Inspiring young people

A large part of Peake's mission is aimed at inspiring schoolchildren to take an interest in science. Millions of children across Britain are taking part in educational projects linked to the mission, including growing seeds that have been into space.

Schools and crowds gathered to watch the launch live, including at the Science Museum in London.

Who is Tim Peake?

Peake, 43, was born in Chichester, West Sussex. He is a former Army Air Corps helicopter pilot and test pilot who served in the British Army for 18 years.

He was selected as an astronaut by the European Space Agency in 2009, from more than 8,000 applicants.

British in space

Helen Sharman became the first Briton in space in 1991, when she travelled to the Russian Mir space station. Several British-born astronauts have flown with NASA after becoming American citizens, but Peake is the first to fly as a representative of Britain with the European Space Agency.

The British government only began funding the European Space Agency's human spaceflight programme in recent years, which made Peake's selection possible.

Life on the station

The International Space Station orbits the Earth about 400 kilometres up, completing an orbit every 90 minutes. Peake will see 16 sunrises and sunsets every day.

He is expected to carry out a spacewalk during his mission and hopes to run the London Marathon on a treadmill on the station.

He is due to return to Earth in June.