Orthodox priests conduct a blessing service in front of the Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft at Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Monday, Dec. 14, 2015. The new Soyuz mission is scheduled to start on Tuesday, Dec. 15. The Russian rocket will carry U.S. astronaut Tim Kopra, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and British astronaut Tim Peake. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
Timothy Peake, the first Briton to represent the European Space Agency aboard the International Space Station, will be away from the planet for six months but looks forward to Earthly pleasures like seeing the new Star Wars movie and having a Christmas pudding.
Peake is to blast off Tuesday from the Russian manned space facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, along with Timothy Kopra of the United States and Russian Yuri Malenchenko.
At a crew news conference on Monday, Peake said he expects ground staff will be able to download “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” for the crew to watch.
Peake says he’s also looking forward to microgravity experiments inspired by Isaac Newton.
Filed Under: Aerospace + defense