Blast Off Live Stargazing Live

In just 30 minutes from now, Tim Peake will blast off from Earth

and become the first British astronaut

on the International Space Station.

And we also have pictures from inside the rocket.

For Tim and his crewmates, the wait is almost over.

Now, former commander of the International Space Station,

Chris Hadfield, is with us.

As we count down to launch, he's Dara O Briain, I am Brian Cox,

this is Blast Off Live: A Stargazing Special.

Welcome to the Science Museum in London and welcome to all the

children and their teachers who've joined us here to cheer Tim on.

Hello to all the children watching in schools all around the country.

We'll be able to keep an eye on Tim

and his crewmates throughout the show, with access

to all the European Space Agency's cameras - even inside the rocket.

We should even be able to see him during the launch itself

as he's travelling through the sky at more than 8,000mph.

And this is where Tim Peake is heading,

the International Space Station.

It's a laboratory in space that's bigger than a football pitch,

and these are pictures now from the space station as it orbits

the Earth at 250 miles up.

Right now it's just off the coast of West Africa.

Tim will be enjoying great views of the Earth when he gets up there

but also he's got a lot of science to do.

There's just half an hour before he takes off.

Our own Dallas Campbell is at the launch site in Kazakhstan.

Dallas, there's lots of excitement here. How is everyone feeling there?

We are absolutely so excited.

Welcome from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Here on the frozen steppes of Kazakhstan

you can see the rocket behind me.

It's an absolutely beautiful day here, clear skies, very cold,

and as the sun goes down, as it begins to get a little darker,

that rocket is going to look fantastic. You've got the best seats

in the house apart from the three over there.

Thank you, Dallas. We'll be back with Dallas shortly.

Now, set your watches for this one,

cos the launch takes place at 11:03 and ten seconds

and has a tendency to go bang on time. Here's our countdown clock.

We can see there we have just under 30 minutes to go.

We're very lucky because joining us is a man who knows more about

space travel than most of us.

He's been to space three times and helped build the space station

and he also made himself famous around the world for doing this...

# This is ground control to Major Tom

# You've really made the grade

# And the papers want to know

# Whose shirts you wear... #

-Chris, welcome to Stargazing.

-I'm really pleased to be with you.

Live pictures here, 30 minutes to launch.

Tim is sat in there with his colleagues.

What's going through his mind now?

Tim is sitting right in there, just tucked in, laying on his back.

He's thinking so much about the machine, about his job,

about all the important technical events that are about to happen.

But he's also, you know, he's just a kid from Chichester -

he's as excited as a person can be,

he's got this little boy bubbling up in his head at the same time,

so he's this cool, calm, experienced military test pilot,

but this is the biggest day of his life.

Well, Chris, we're going to be talking to you all the way through,

and during that launch. We've also got some more space legends here -

over there ready to watch Tim's launch, the first ever British

astronaut Helen Sharman, and that there is Alexey Leonov,

a space legend, the first space walk.

The legend is, well, actually, his spacesuit inflated,

he couldn't get back into the capsule,

he had the presence of mind to let a little air out to pop back in,

so that's one of the great astronauts of all time.

We'll be chatting to Helen at seven o'clock this evening

over on BBC Two.

And amongst the children we have joining us today is Newsround's

Leah Boleto. This is a pretty good school trip for them,

and some of them even get to taste astronaut food later.

Now, Tim Peake is about to fulfil a lifelong dream,

but what does it take

to have the right stuff for that trip into space?

My name is Tim Peake.

I'm 41. A father. Two children. Married.

A very ordinary background and I guess I'm just an ordinary person

who's really fortunate enough to do an extraordinary job.

It's the first time that Britain has had an astronaut

with the European Space Agency in a sort of formal official capacity.

So it's great for the UK.

Flying was always my passion, from about the age of 13 onwards.

I just loved that element of flying an aircraft, feeling the elements.

I think that's why I pursued a career as a test pilot.

I actually applied to be an astronaut

because I saw the online advert from the European Space Agency

and it really was a case of right time, right place.

I spoke to my wife about it but in a fairly off-hand fashion and said,

"Hey, I'd really like to give this a go."

I was one of 10,000 who had submitted their online application

forms to the Space Agency.

Six were chosen.

The selection process for astronauts doesn't come around very often,

maybe once every ten years.

To have the right qualifications and be in the right age group

with the right operational experience behind me just at the

time when the European astronaut selection process started...

I constantly remind myself how lucky I am.

-BRIAN:

-Chris, I know you know Tim very well,

you helped with his training, I think.

He's the archetypal astronaut - a test pilot.

But we've also had scientists, medical doctors,

so what are the things that you look for in an astronaut?

Well, when he saw that advert in the newspaper,

they're looking for three things.

Number one is a very healthy body, cos six months on the space station

where you can't ever go see a doctor.

Number two is the ability to learn complicated things,

so an advanced technical education, at least a masters.

And then the third is a proven ability to make good decisions

when the consequences matter.

So that's why we hire medical doctors or test pilots.

He's proven his ability when the chips are down to be able to make

-the right call. That's what got him in the door.

-We've got footage now.

I think this is just from a few minutes ago.

25 minutes to launch.

He looks very relaxed, actually, he's just sat there not doing a lot.

Is there not a lot to do at this point?

He's wearing his gear, he's got all the checklists here beside him,

he's got his key checklist on his knee, he's focusing on,

"What is the next thing that's going to happen?"

Make sure he's ready for that step in the checklist,

and a contributing member of the crew.

Now, Tim's launch takes place about 3,000 miles away from the UK,

at Russia's rocket launch site in Kazakhstan.

It's a spaceport called the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Dallas Campbell has spent the last few days there watching preparations

and, Dallas, it's a place full of history, isn't it?

It certainly is, Dara. It is such a privilege to be standing here.

Anybody who knows their space history, particularly Russian

space history, will know about the Baikonur Cosmodrome

because it's right here, literally on that launch pad,

that the Space Race began.

Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite,

was launched in 1957.

That set the whole ball rolling.

And then after the Sputnik launches, we got into Vostok,

so we got Gagarin, the first man in space in 1961,

Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space in '63.

All of the astronauts - Helen Sharman, of course,

who's with you, we'll see her later tonight -

she launched from here as well. So...

Today has been a special day, I think, particularly following Tim.

I had the chance to follow him and his entourage all morning

and we have a little film for you to see now.

So here we are, the morning of the launch.

The excitement is building, the moment is finally upon us.

The astronauts will have spent the night in that hotel behind me

in quarantine and in a few minutes they're going to come down here

and then board those buses to take them to the Cosmodrome

for the suiting-up process, and then on to the launch pad.

So here they are. Yuri Malenchenko in the middle.

Next to him, Tim Peake.

On the other side, Tim Kopra, the American astronaut.

Good luck, Tim!

TIM: Thank you.

-How do you feel?

-Fantastic. Really good, we're ready.

Fantastic. The families now pressing their hands against the glass.

That's Yuri Malenchenko's daughter up there.

All the kids waving them off.

There are some vital checks that need doing,

so next stop is Building 254 on the Cosmodrome for suit-up.

Tim's just having the pressure checks done on his spacesuit.

These are the suits they wear on board the Soyuz spacecraft

in that very position, which is why they always look a little bit

too small when they're standing up straight,

cos they're designed to be in that lying down, crouched position.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Go, Tim!

This is the bus that's going to take them to the launch pad.

Lovely.

DARA: These are the shots from earlier this morning of Tim

and the other two astronauts climbing aboard the rocket.

And one last wave for their families before they're off.

Chris, we saw that picture of Tim's children

pressing their hands on the glass - it must be a very emotional time...

There they are, actually.

It must be an emotional time for the family.

It is, it's something you've prepared for

but you recognise how important this day is in your lives.

It has the potential to be magnificent with the rocket

launching into space and starting a great adventure,

but it's also not without risk and that's very much in the mind,

especially of the people on the ground. They feel helpless.

On board the rocket you at least have a hand in your own destiny.

For the families it's tough.

And you've spent time with families of other astronauts,

you obviously don't know precisely what your family were going through.

Well, they must have talked to you about it.

Yeah, I've stood with other families there at the Baikonur Cosmodrome,

listening to the Russian countdown to launch

and, as the astronauts, you're thinking how to support them

if things go well, how to support them if things go badly,

making sure you have a plan.

But mostly not wanting to diminish their joy. It's a joyous day.

The one quote that we had this morning

is from Tim's four-year-old son, who said, "I want to go with Daddy."

And that was the quote we had from the family this morning.

-We all want to go with Daddy.

-Yes, exactly.

Tim has had a lifelong passion for flight and space.

Now he wants to use his mission to inspire a generation of young people

to get interested in science.

Newsround's Leah Boleto is with a group of schoolchildren now. Leah.

Personally, I would love the opportunity to go into space

but what about you lot? Would you like to go to space?

KIDS: Yeah!

Yeah, I thought so.

I've got Mario here, Cherise,

and Abdulla and they're going to try some genuine space food

that Tim Peake will experience when he heads to the ISS.

So tuck in, guys. Let me know what you think.

They're not that confident with it so far.

Have a little try, tuck in.

Oh, no, they're not sure.

OK, Mario - look at that face on Mario.

Mario, what does it taste like? Tell me.

Not very good.

Oh, OK, so that's not very good.

-That's actually pumpkin and celery puree. Not a fan?

-No.

OK. Poor Cherise. Have you tried it? What do you think it is?

It's, like, beany and... it's not very nice, it's dry.

-OK, well, that is vegetable soup. Not a fan?

-No.

OK, Abdulla, you look like you've got the best one, what do you think?

It tastes of cardboard!

Oh, cardboard. That is a berry and chocolate snack bar.

What do you think, guys, a fan of space food or not?

-No.

-Not a fan.

-Not a fan.

Well, if you do want to go into space, it isn't all about the food,

because there is some pretty intense training. Take a look at this.

TIM: There were many highlights of basic training.

CHEERING

I remember the first time I went on the parabolic flight...

..going into zero gravity...

and just experiencing what the body feels like.

That was just incredible.

To have a look at the centrifuge...

..training in a neutral buoyancy facility...

How's it in there, Tim?

My left tether is locked to the D-ring extender gate...

Right, safety divers, let's go and bring the subjects back.

Thank you very much, guys.

Going to Russia for the first time, going to Star City, of course.

All the history and tradition surrounding Yuri Gagarin,

Johnson Space Center - these are the places where astronauts

and cosmonauts have trained for their missions since the '60s.

It was wonderful to be part of that.

The more you learn about space

and what you're actually going to do and the spacecraft you're going to

fly in, the environment you're going to live and work in,

then the more fascinating it becomes.

And so the desire to get there increases as well.

DARA: It's just over 18 minutes to go

and the excitement is palpable here in the Science Museum.

Let's go back to Dallas at the Cosmodrome.

Thanks, Dara. The terrifying thing here is we don't actually have

a countdown clock so we don't know when it's going to be,

so I'm relying on my watch.

17:03 and ten seconds local time

is when that is going to lift off. In fact, last time I was here,

we nearly missed it.

It's worth reminding ourselves that that rocket and launch pad,

that is the only bus stop to the ISS since the shuttle retired.

If you want to know how that rocket got there,

I spent a couple of days trying to find out.

At the heart of the Baikonur Cosmodrome is a rocket factory.

It's Saturday, December 12th,

and getting its final checks on the production line today is THE rocket

that will launch Tim into space -

Soyuz TMA-19M.

What makes that so extraordinary is not just that it ferries people

into space but that it does it on such a regular basis.

It is so reliable, so elegantly designed,

that other rockets have come and gone over the years

but Soyuz keeps on going.

This is the 128th Soyuz flight.

They make a new one for every mission.

Building this way is relatively cheap and efficient,

unlike the space shuttle that required costly maintenance

after every trip.

So this is the real muscle, this is the business end,

the stage one boosters and the stage two central core,

which all fire on lift-off just like a sprinter leaving the blocks

to give you maximum power right at the beginning.

When Sergei Korolev first envisioned this over half a century ago, he had

no idea that his design would become the workhorse of space travel.

But essentially it is the same 1950s design

as the R-7 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

that went on to launch Sputnik and the first people into space.

Simple engineering that has stood the test of time.

The next day, Tim's rocket is ready to roll.

It's 6:30am, it's bitterly cold,

they've just opened the doors of the vehicle assembly hanger and they've

backed in this diesel engine which they're going to attach

to the Soyuz rocket itself.

And then they're going to drag it out on its journey down that way

to the launch pad.

Here she comes.

What a glorious sight. Soyuz, queen of the skies.

That is proper engineering.

Two hours later it arrives here at the historic Gagarin launch pad.

Look at this - the train is now moving away, leaving the rocket,

and it's about to go up into its vertical position.

When you're sending people into space, you don't want experimental,

you don't want cutting-edge - what you want is tried and tested,

which is why that rocket and that launch pad are as important to human

space flight as they were in 1961 when Yuri Gagarin left from there.

And in two days' time, Tim Peake will be sitting on top of there,

taking his own place in history.

Here we have a model of that rocket.

I'm just looking at the countdown clock -

about 14 minutes before launch.

So what are we going to see as this rocket launches? What are the steps?

As you say, it's been around for 50 years. It's a beautiful design.

These four boosters here are designed to get you above the air

and so they'll light first

and you'll see the steam and smoke from them,

but it's when the big centre rocket lights

that you'll have enough thrust to leave the ground.

These burn for about two minutes and then fall away.

It's literally "fall off", isn't it?

They're just sort of snubbed up into place here, it's a beautiful,

elegant design.

About two-thirds of the way through the launch, it'll just be this part

that's pushing the Soyuz for the last few minutes,

getting it up to the speed for it to be able to stay in space.

After the launch we'll talk through various stages as we go through

the different boosters and engines,

but this is one of the most reliable rockets - 128 manned missions,

over 1,500 missions in total,

no astronaut has been killed on the ascent -

no cosmonauts have been killed on the ascent.

There was one explosion, but there's another safety feature,

in 1983, that we have the footage of here.

If there's a problem during launch...

That looks catastrophic.

It looks scary but we have the ability - if you watch closely -

you see that little rocket spitting off the top...

This little rescue tower, right here on the very top,

lifting safely the crew and their capsule, throwing them up

-about 10,000 feet and they come down by parachute.

-In 1983,

both the cosmonauts were safe cos they were lifted off by that.

Yeah, it was Titov and Strekalov in there

and even though the rocket exploded, they were safe,

because of all of the rescue features.

I know you've flown on both the shuttle and this -

what's the most relaxing launch vehicle?

Is it the Soyuz or the shuttle?

Neither are relaxed. It's not a relaxing thing to fly.

You are intensely focused on what you're doing.

But the ride on the shuttle is rougher for the first two minutes.

It's such a big vehicle and it rams itself through the atmosphere.

But this one, you're squished more into your chair,

higher acceleration. So it's kind of a toss-up.

It's not a relaxing day but it's a magnificent day.

And eventually it stops being a rocket and becomes a spaceship,

-which is what this is.

-Yeah, the little guy in here is that.

Yes. And that will open out after about eight, nine minutes?

Right around nine minutes, when you're in orbit,

all this stuff is gone

and all that makes it to space is the Soyuz with the crew,

and then the solar arrays deploy and the antennas deploy and this little

docking mechanism sticks out and the vehicle's ready to go to station.

We've got some shots of Tim putting on his spacesuit earlier.

We've also got Leah who's done the same thing.

Thank you, Leah, come on in here.

-Hi, guys.

-Is it comfortable?

-It's actually surprisingly comfortable.

I know they're made to measure,

every astronaut has their own special spacesuit,

but I'm able to move around, it's quite light and I guess it has to be

really comfortable because they're in it for ten hours.

-Yeah.

-Well, the purpose of the suit, of course,

is if the spaceship has a leak, one of the seals leaks,

then this becomes just a bubble of air to protect you,

around your body. And this helmet would be closed,

you're fed oxygen through this hose here

and you control the pressure here with a regulator.

So normally it'd be deflated like this but if there was an emergency,

this would inflate like a super-tight balloon.

You could read your pressure on your wrist

and this suit would keep you alive.

How long do you have to stay in this suit for?

Tim will have put this suit on a couple of hours ago,

so he's already been wearing it for two hours,

and now he's in the ship for an hour or two,

and then it's going to take six hours to get to the space station.

So, all told, eight or nine hours wearing this. Is it comfortable?

-It's OK.

-It's OK?

-I'm a bit hunched, obviously they're sitting down

and there's a lot of pressure on my shoulders.

It's not really designed for standing up,

it's designed for sitting with your knees up in the capsule.

I think we have a clip of Tim undergoing the pressure test

in the suit this morning.

This is where the suit's inflated to see if there's any leaks.

Yeah, he's getting into the chair and then we check,

using these hoses that are on the front,

his medical data, his communications and then we also inflate the suit

so that we can check there's no leaks at the wrists

or around this seal.

Like, right now you wouldn't want to have a thread across like this

because it would cause a leak in your suit.

So they'll check all that and make sure it's all hermetically sealed.

I can't help notice that you're holding what appears to be a nappy.

-Yes. Shall I explain this?

-Yeah.

-I presume it's what it's for?

-Yes.

Well, you're going to be in a rubber suit for eight or nine hours,

so not that you necessarily will use it, but it's just a good precaution.

-Just to be safe.

-Better safe than sorry in this situation.

Let's go back to Dallas at the Cosmodrome.

Dallas, we are nine minutes away from launch.

Yes, we are nine minutes away.

We've got absolutely beautiful light for you.

The sun's just coming down to the horizon now

so that rocket is going to look superb.

I was just listening to what you were saying about the suits.

There's one bit about that suit that I find really fascinating

and it really sort of symbolises this terrific,

simple Russian engineering, and it's the fact the pressure bladder

inside, which is scrunched up, is held together by a rubber band.

That's my favourite bit of the spacesuit.

We've had a wonderful few days here at Baikonur.

There's been such a relaxing day.

The family are about 100 yards over that way,

ready to watch the launch,

it's been a real sort of carnival atmosphere in Baikonur,

very friendly, everyone is very relaxed,

Tim's family is very relaxed.

Tim is cool as a cucumber, as you said.

And I got the chance to meet Tim's parents

and have a chat with them earlier on.

It's really overawing. We suddenly realised, when you get here,

the enormity of the operation hits you.

And the backup behind Tim and Yuri

and the other Tim going up there, I think it's just wonderful.

Are you going to get a chance to see Tim before he goes?

There's the press conference a bit later on, but are you...?

-We have seen Tim.

-Yeah, we saw him last night.

He's in quarantine and we have to keep away from him but, yeah,

he's full of good spirits. He's just raring to go.

The whole country is so excited about this and I hope he knows that.

He does. We've told him.

Cos he's been out here in a little bit of a bubble

but we've told him, back home the interest is enormous.

-And he's thrilled.

-You must be incredibly proud.

-Yes.

-Are you fit to burst?

-You couldn't not be, could you?

We have live pictures from inside the capsule.

Just about seven minutes to launch.

Here they are.

Chris, you see that there are things going on, buttons being pressed.

I know in Dallas' VT he said there's a rubber band and you said,

-"No, no, no - two."

-Two rubber bands. Yeah, a little redundancy.

You can see Tim right now is checking his harness

is cinched right down, tight into the seat, and now he's closing

his visor, sealing it up. You listen to two clicks to make sure

your visor is properly attached.

Do the journey with the visor closed and pressurised?

Just in case the vehicle shook itself into a leak,

you do the whole launch, until you're clear,

with everything closed up tight, just in case.

Do you get time to sit there and dream and wonder about the journey?

Or is it really intense now?

We see that Tim's doing a lot of checking on the suit.

It's like you're two people lying there.

You're this extremely efficient flying machine of a human being,

but you're also this passionate human who's there on behalf of

all these people at the Science Museum and around the country.

You understand the role that you're in and you feel it.

I find it hard to think that the launch will be any louder

than the Science Museum because we must have 2,000 people here.

Hello to everybody here.

CHEERING

This is what it's all about, there's inspiration here.

There will be students out there

who are going to be scientists and engineers.

I think Tim really noticed that. Not only is he involved,

but he recognises the impact it has for decades.

It is almost time to blast off. Only about 5:30 to go.

Before Tim leaves,

here are a few people keen to send their best wishes.

-ALL:

-# I think it's gonna be a long, long time... #

Tim, I know you've been dreaming of this day for a long time

and we will be with you every step of the way,

watching with admiration and wonder.

# Rocket man... #

Good luck, Tim! Bon voyage!

BOTH: All the best, Tim.

Have a great trip, have a safe trip.

-All the best, Tim.

-Good luck.

And have a good flight.

I want to wish you the best of luck on your fabulous adventure.

I know the view's going to be amazing

and I'm a little bit jealous. Have a great time.

ALL: Good luck, Tim!

-ALL:

-Go on, Tim!

Enjoy the ride!

The nation's proud of you.

We all just wanted to wish you the best of luck.

-Or, as they say in Russian... ALL:

-Udachi!

-Safe flight, Tim.

-We wish you luck. Have a fantastic trip.

Enjoy Christmas in space.

Good luck, Tim. Have a cosmic time.

Tim, from all your friends and colleagues here

at the Army Aviation Centre, Middle Wallop,

-all the best with your space mission.

-ALL: Good luck, Tim!

CHEERING

-That's great, isn't it?

-Fantastic.

Yes, four minutes to go until launch.

Let's give you some more details on Tim's crewmates.

The commander of the flight is Yuri Malenchenko,

one of Russia's most experienced cosmonauts.

He'll be sitting in the middle of the three of them.

He couldn't be in safer hands than Yuri.

Yuri's as experienced a cosmonaut as ever existed.

I think this is his sixth space flight and he is the quietest,

calmest, most taciturn guy you'll ever meet.

-He's in expert hands.

-And he's already done 600 days in space.

He's closing in on the record.

By the time he and his crew come back in June, Yuri will be right up

against the longest anybody's ever flown in space in history.

And he's so relaxed. He got married in space, actually.

We've got the photograph of him getting married.

Yeah, that's right, he got married when he was up in orbit.

They sort of did the vows from remote distance. Pretty amazing.

And then we've got Tim Kopra, the American astronaut.

-I think these are live pictures.

-Yeah, there's Tim Kopra right there.

So this is his second space flight.

Tim's flown in space once before, he's been to the space station

before, so between Yuri's experience

and Tim Kopra in the left seat, Tim is part of a great crew.

Three minutes to launch here.

Can I just check, is this the thing that they will see float,

-when they know they're in zero gravity?

-Yeah.

It's actually fun to watch that during launch

because of the acceleration - it starts to shake faster

and faster and then finally the moment the engines shut off,

it floats and it reminds you where you are.

These are live pictures now so it's 2:30 before launch

and everybody seems to be relaxing. There's a checklist in the middle.

It's one last moment to make sure you are completely ready,

everything's anchored down, you know what steps you may have to follow.

That's what's uppermost in their mind.

Each of them is thinking, "What are the emergencies?

"What buttons will I be reaching for?"

That's what they're focused on.

But there's this noise of excitement in the back of their head.

Are you expecting or dreading a huge acceleration,

-is there a massive noise?

-It's actually gradual.

The engines sort of light sequentially, so you sort of feel

the crescendo of an orchestra getting louder and louder,

right up to the moment that the clock hits zero and you leave Earth.

-1:45.

-Our first indication, these support gantries will move away.

You can see some of the gantries are already down.

We have one more gantry to retract

and then it's just these ones at the bottom,

just holding the rocket, waiting for it to be able to lift itself

and free itself from the shackles of Earth.

This is the coldness of the fuel we can see here, this vapour.

You can see it's still connected, just to top up the fuel.

But this is just this elegant mechanism that holds

it in space here right now,

so that it's perfectly poised for the thrust of the engines -

in just over one minute.

We're going to see the engines light - that'll be the boosters -

and they'll see if they're working properly before the rocket goes.

That's right.

You'll see some of the smoke and the flame several seconds before

we hit T-zero as the boosters on the outside start to light.

But it's only when that big central rocket lights that you're really

committed and we're actually going to space today.

We're counting down to the time we were given.

There is, however, Russian tradition.

There is no Hollywood countdown.

-Last pieces come away.

-That should be 40 seconds before launch.

-30 seconds.

-This is getting very exciting.

-Almost there.

So we'll see ignition happen first on the four outer boosters.

-Yeah.

-A bright light will appear from underneath the rocket

and then the main rocket is the one that starts lifting it off.

You're going to see here...

starting right about now, you can see the light.

You can see retracting the last little thing.

You've got all of England counting down, all of the UK.

-Here we go, there's engines lighting.

-Main boosters.

You're going to see these fall away

-as the vehicle starts to pull itself away.

-And we have liftoff.

-Tim's away!

-Big cheer.

-CHEERING

Stable.

So we've got live pictures from inside the capsule.

You can see the splitscreen. This is the live image.

And you see the vibration.

You can see how hard the acceleration is by how this

little floating thing is being shaken by the acceleration.

Yuri is carefully looking at things, Tim Kopra's writing down information

and everyone is focused on the rocket ship.

You've seen many of these launches, you've been involved in three

of them, but I saw you there -

do you really feel a personal connection to these astronauts?

I-I...

You're calmer inside than you are out because out here all I can

really do is wish them well and just give them the benefit of my heart.

We're about 45 seconds till the booster cuts off now.

So what should we be looking for here?

It's a beautiful, clear day in Kazakhstan

so at 1:45 or 1:50 those four outer boosters will have done their job,

they'll be above the air, they'll separate and actually flip away

and then it'll separate, that whole first stage.

You can see them starting to burn out now.

You can see Tim on the left-hand side of the picture

with his checklist. So they're busy, busy, busy.

They're just keeping track. Watch as they separate now.

You should see the blip, blip, blip of the four boosters coming off.

-There they are.

-The boosters are going.

-And there's staging.

-Wow.

See the external boosters coming off.

Is that the cover around the Soyuz itself coming off?

Not yet, these are just the four boosters separating

and flipping away.

And we can see that the main stage has ignited.

Now it's that central rocket burning for another few minutes.

Now that they're above the air, they just have to get going fast enough

to stay in orbit.

So now it's just like a dragster with the foot to the floor,

getting faster and faster.

The next thing we'll see - we won't see it - but for them

they'll see when the covers come off the Soyuz capsule itself.

This is the first time that the windows are open,

they get some sense of what's happening outside.

Yeah, Tim's got a window just to his right

and right now it's covered by the aerodynamic shroud.

But as soon as you're above the air, you don't need that streamlining

any more so it splits like a big clam shell.

There he is. There's Tim Peake there.

There's Tim right now.

Look at that. There's that prod...

As you can see, Tim is focused on what's happening inside.

He's got six months to look out the window, so even though that's

space appearing out the window, he's focused on flying his rocket.

-And just to get some sense of the power...

-Thumbs up!

Thumbs up there from Tim Peake!

CHEERING

Hello, Tim!

These pictures coming to you live from the Soyuz capsule.

I don't know if you can hear on TV but there was a huge cheer

from all the children when Tim gave us a wave.

It's a wonderful thing.

-He looks very relaxed.

-Yeah. And the load on them is getting heavier.

It's as if someone is slowly pouring more and more sand on your body,

as the vehicle accelerates.

We can see the rim of the Earth through the window.

You can see the sky is going from light blue to dark blue to black.

-The edge of space here?

-That's right. We define it as 100km up.

They're almost there right now. He's almost at the legal definition.

He could put that in his log book now - "Been to space."

Is he technically now an astronaut? Is there a point at which getting up

-there...or is there some other tradition?

-To become part of sort of

the definition of the Association of Space Explorers,

as soon as he's done one orbit of the world above 100km he's there.

We're about 30 seconds now to second stage separation.

Yeah, so the first rocket got him above the air

and now it's accelerating.

But now he needs the other rocket to perfectly steer them

so that they're going towards the space station.

And that separation will happen here shortly

as they go from one rocket to the other.

We expect that we lose signal from the Soyuz at various points

on the way up.

We can see Earth disappearing and him going further

and further into space.

And they're covering hundreds of kilometres already.

They're nowhere near Baikonur,

they're on their way to Japan right now.

-It's so fast it's hard to grasp.

-So 4:41 - second stage separation.

106 miles altitude.

Just to get some sense for the violence

and speed of a rocket launch.

Think of what it's like when you get on a train

and after nine minutes imagine you could be hundreds

of kilometres away and hundreds of kilometres up in just nine minutes.

And they've gone from nought to 8,233mph

-in the time they've been doing this.

-Isn't that amazing?

It's an uncannily precise and yet unbelievable process

that makes this happen.

So when do you start to relax

and think the vehicle has performed as it should?

We're now in space - is it the moment you get into orbit?

During launch we saw Tim was focused and worked and then he went,

"This is great!" And he stuck his thumb up for a second

and then he got back to focusing.

It'll be the same when they get to orbit in just under nine minutes.

They'll focus really hard for a bit

and then they'll have a chance to sort of congratulate each other,

and recognise that the game has begun.

In about 2:30 it'll get to microgravity - zero gravity -

their first orbit, and this is a point where they'll separate

the last engine and then Soyuz will unfurl into the spaceship we know.

Yeah. You're all bundled up like a butterfly in a cocoon right now

and as soon as the engines shut off, then we deploy the big solar arrays,

the antennas come up so we can start looking for the space station.

So the vehicle sort of spreads its wings and comes alive

immediately after the last rocket shuts off.

It's a remarkable thing.

We saw Alexey Leonov earlier, from those days,

to days when you can have live TV pictures from inside the capsule.

Is there a glove coming off there? Oh, no, just some switches...

We're going to go back to Dallas in Baikonur.

Dallas, how's the launch from where you are?

Oh, my goodness. That is how to get to the office.

It's indescribable standing here. We are so close.

I've been to a launch before, but there's no way to explain it.

It feels like it's alive. It's like some kind of monster.

The noise is immense.

And also the thing that really surprised me again

is just the brightness of the boosters. It's just fantastic.

So it's all looking very good so far for Tim.

He is one step closer

on his journey to the ISS.

We're still getting pictures.

We're about a minute to microgravity, so a minute

when all the engines go off. Are we looking for this thing to float?

You can see how smooth it is right now because this has just pulled

tight straight like a guitar string under the four Gs

-of acceleration that the crew is feeling.

-Four G at the moment?

Yeah, it gets up to about four or four and a half maximum.

You can just see the visual reminder of where they are.

We've got about 30 seconds to engine cut-off so should we see something

-on these live pictures?

-We may lose the picture

just because of all the mechanical things happening.

The antenna that sends us this signal from the rocket

is probably going to get messed up.

I think we can show an animation of what this will look like.

Obviously we've no external shot at the moment.

That's what it looks like at the moment

and then at some point that final engine...

-This section here.

-..will stop and almost immediately detach.

-Right.

It has been steering them right to the final direction.

It's gone! Where's that thing gone?

-They're in weightlessness.

-So we know they're weightless

because that toy has now floated away.

Floated out of the field of view. Their checklists are now weightless.

Their pens are floating in front of them.

So this is when the solar panels unfurl,

the spacecraft comes to life.

They're in space now, Brian, they've made it,

-they're successfully in orbit.

-We should have a cheer.

Tim Peake's in space, everybody!

CHEERING

Big thumbs up from Yuri there.

They've reached zero gravity. They're 137 miles up.

They still need to raise themselves about another 100 miles or so

to reach the orbit of the ISS

and that journey will take place hopefully over the next six hours.

But Tim's got his astronaut wings.

That's right, he's got his astronaut wings.

We will know later whether or not they can do this journey,

as we hope, over the next six hours, cos the journey's not over.

He still has to dock with the ISS

and we'll be able to find out a bit more.

We also can see a bit more of Tim and this incredible journey

that he's going on.

Yeah. So we are going to be back about seven o'clock on BBC Two

and we'll bring you live coverage of Tim's arrival on the space station.

We'll hear Tim speak from space for the first time.

Chris Hadfield will be back with us.

Dallas will have reaction from Tim's family.

We'll be joined by the first Briton in space, Helen Sharman. And we'll

be exploring Tim's new home, the International Space Station.

That's all at seven o'clock on BBC Two.

But for now, it's been genuinely historic,

-and for all of us, an uplifting morning. Goodbye.

-See you later.

CHEERING