Tim Peake: When does the first Briton head to the International Space Station, and what will happen to him when he gets there?

Major Peake will become the first fully British professional astronaut when he takes off from Kazakhstan

Tim Peake at the Science Museum in November (EPA)

Tim Peake is about to make history as the first British person onboard the International Space Station. As of tomorrow morning UK time, he will also be the first fully professional British astronaut in space.

When will Major Peake set off?

The launch is due to happen at 11.03am.

Where’s he going from?

The rocket carrying Major Peake will blast off from Kazakhstan, at the Russia-operated Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Who will be there with him?

Major Peake will be joined by another Tim — Tim Kopra, from Nasa — and Yuri Malenchenko of Roscosmos.

How long will he stay for?

Six months.

So he’ll be away for Christmas?

Yes — but Major Peake has been so busy that he forgot it was coming, he has said.

"Of course we'll be enjoying the fantastic view of Planet Earth and our thoughts will be with everybody on Earth enjoying Christmas, and with our friends and family, of course.

"We'll thankfully be able to give them a call on Christmas Day."

"I also hear a Christmas pudding went up on Orbital Four (a supply mission to the space station), so we'll have some treats as well."

Haven’t other British people been to space before?

Yes, but Major Peake is the first fully British professional astronaut.

Previous "Brits in space" have either had US or duel citizenship and worked for Nasa or been on privately funded or sponsored trips.

Major Peake is employed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and sports a Union Flag on his sleeve.

What will Major Peake do while he’s up there?

As with all astronauts on the space station, Major Peake will be taking part in a variety of experiments.

Some of those are British-designed, in keeping with the history-making nature of Major Peake’s trip.

He will for example be testing out a system designed to check for problems suffered by astronauts’ increased brain pressure during the mission.

Dr Robert Marchbanks has developed the device at the Hampshire hospital known as the cerebral and cochlear fluid pressure (CCFP) analyser.

It can detect life-threatening head injuries and infections without the need for surgery or painful spinal procedures and is currently part of a major study which could see it rolled out across the NHS.

Dr Marchbanks has also been working with Nasa and the UK Space Agency to enable the test to be used on board the ISS.

Additional reporting by agencies