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Tim Peake: UK astronaut to be first British person to walk in space

The walk will take place on 15 January, and will be the 192nd run to maintain the International Space Station

Andrew Griffin
Tuesday 05 January 2016 16:59 GMT
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British astronaut Tim Peake at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, ahead of his launch to the International Space Station.
British astronaut Tim Peake at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, ahead of his launch to the International Space Station. (PA)

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Tim Peake is to become the first ever British person to walk in space.

The British astronaut will step out of the International Space Station for a spacewalk on 15 January, Nasa has announced.

Two of the flight engineers from Expedition 46 — Nasa's Tim Kopra, as well as Major Peake — will take part in a spacewalk to fix a problem with the International Space Station. The two will "replace a failed voltage regulator that compromised one of the station's eight power channels last November", Nasa has said.

Major Peake's companion is a veteran of spacewalks, and this will be his third. It will be the 192nd spacewalk undertaken to maintain the space station.

The walk will mean that Major Peake will become the first British person to walk in space, as well as already being the first person from the UK on the International Space Station.

Major Peake had said in advance of his mission that he had hoped to take part in a spacewalk. But whether he would get to do one depended on Nasa's plans, and whether any necessary maintenance mission would need to be undertaken.

Nasa will run a briefing on Tuesday to detail exactly what the astronauts will get up to, and how they prepare. It will feature high-ranking staff at Nasa and will be livestreamed on the agency's TV station.

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