MAJOR Tim Peake has blasted off into orbit on board the Soyuz space capsule on his way to becoming the first British astronaut to join the crew of the International Space Station.

The Russian rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in front of the world's media following weeks of preparation.

Major Peake, 43, a former Wiltshire resident and Army aviator and helicopter test pilot, is making history as the first fully British professional astronaut to be employed by a space agency.

Staff at the Swindon-based UK Space Agency hope his flight will encourage the next generation of aspiring astronauts and scientists.

Images of the launch showed the trail of flames the rocket left in its wake as it sped up into the blue sky, before it became a tiny fleck in the distance.

A view of inside the capsule showed the astronauts in their space suits as the rocket lifted off.

Major Peake could be identified by the Union Flag on his sleeve.

He smiled at the camera, waved and gave a thumbs up as they sat back in their seats for the journey into space.

The Russian Soyuz TMA-19 capsule, carrying Mr Peake, 43, Russian Commander Yuri Malenchenko and US astronaut Tim Kopra, docked at 17.33, six and a half hours after lift off at 11.03 GMT.

It spent just over 30 minutes completing its fly-around as the astronauts on-board made sure every part of the capsule was precisely aligned with the station, while travelling at a speed of 20-30 centimetres per second.

Tensions rose as there were difficulties in manoeuvring the capsule into position. Yuri took manual control and backed the capsule away before making a second attempt to re-align it with the station's docking port.

This put the docking behind its scheduled time of 17.23 GMT by just over 10 minutes.

Swindon Advertiser:

The Soyuz space capsule on its way to the International Space Station today