Tim Peake successfully launched into space at 11.03am GMT, along with fellow astronauts Tim Kopra and Yuri Malenchenko. Peake will be the first British astronaut to work aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Aboard the ISS, Kopra, Peake and Malenchenko will be met by Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly of Nasa and Russian Flight Engineers Sergey Volkov and Mikhail Kornienko.

Peake prepared for lift off in the Soyuz TMA-19M rocket roughly 45 minutes before the scheduled departure time. While waiting, he enjoyed the music of Queen's Don't Stop Me Now, Coldplay's A Sky Full of Stars, and U2's Beautiful Day.

Kelly, Kornienko and Volkov will return in March 2016 after having spent a year on the ISS collecting biomedical data on the effects of long space travel, which could be used during preparations for Nasa's journey to Mars.

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NASA