Astronaut puts space back on nation's agenda

Nearly 55 years after Yuri Gagarin became the first human in orbit, the UK is experiencing a surge of space mania thanks to its first official astronaut - a soft-spoken pilot who will spend some of his six-month stint on the International Space Station attempting to brew a decent cup of tea in zero gravity.

Millions around the country paused in front of TVs and computer screens on Tuesday to watch a Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying Major Tim Peake and two other astronauts - Timothy Kopra of the United States and Yuri Malenchenko of Russia - blast off from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Peake, a 43-year-old former army helicopter pilot, is not the first Briton in space. Helen Sharman visited Russia's Mir space station in 1991 on a privately backed mission, and several British-born US citizens flew with NASA's space shuttle program.