Meet Tim Peake, the British astronaut who’ll spend Christmas day in space
Tim Peake, the UK's only current official astronaut, is heading up to the International Space Station (ISS) for Christmas.
Due to launch on 15 December, major Peake will spend six months in space conducting various experiments, such as growing proteins for drug research and using an electomagnetic levitating device to study new metals.
But he might take a day off on Christmas Day, when a Christmas pudding and bacon sandwich made by chef Heston Blumenthal are due to be delivered to the ISS.
During a Q&A session at the Science Museum in London today, Peake said he was taking a pack of balloons, some Christmas presents and family photographs up with him, when he takes off from Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. Take off will look something like this…
“The only fear I have at this stage is forgetting something. In terms of the mission, I don’t have any fears at all,” he said. “I don’t think my presents will arrive by reindeer, but by Orbital 4.”
He won't be alone up there – joining him on the "Principia" mission is Tim Kopra, a US astronaut, and Russian commander Yuri Malenchenko.
Together, the trio will travel round the earth at a speed of 17,500 mph. By the end of the missions, they will have completed 2,700 laps.
Before taking on the ISS mission, Peake was an army major and a helicopter test pilot. in 2009, he was selected from 8,000 applicants to join the European Space Agency's astronaut corps.