On 15 December 2015, ESA astronaut Tim Peake will be launched to the International Space Station from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
In this video, Tim and fellow Expedition 46-47 crewmembers, NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra and Roscosmos cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and their backup crew are seen leaving Star City, near Moscow, before boarding a plane for the launch site on 30 November 2015.
Named after Isaac Newton’s text Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Tim’s “Principia” mission will be the eighth ESA long-duration mission to the International Space Station. He will spend six months on orbit carrying out an intensive schedule of European and international experiments, in addition to numerous educational activities.