UK astronaut Tim Peake is ready to make his landmark flight to the International Space Station (ISS).
On Tuesday, the former helicopter pilot will launch on a Russian Soyuz rocket at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
He will be accompanied by crew members American Tim Kopra and Russian Yuri Malenchenko.
Once at the ISS, Mr Peake will begin a programme of experiments and educational activities designed to get young people interested in science.
Launch is set for 11:03 GMT from Site 1 at Baikonur, the pad where Yuri Gagarin made the first historic human spaceflight in 1961. The Soyuz space capsule is due to dock with the space station at 17:23 GMT.
Mr Peake is the first UK astronaut to fly under the banner of the European Space Agency (Esa).
Helen Sharman became the first British citizen to travel to space when she visited the space station Mir in 1991. Her mission came about through a co-operative venture between the Soviet government and British business.
Ms Sharman told BBC News: “Launch itself is a day that you want to get on with, because finally, you’re getting to do what you’ve been trained to do for so long. I trained for 18 months, Tim Peake will have trained for six years by the time he flies.”
The crew are placed in quarantine for two weeks before launch to ensure they do not become ill in space.
They woke up at 0200 GMT (0800 local time) for breakfast and after a farewell ceremony, they leave the cosmonaut hotel in Baikonur for medical tests.
Source: BBC
