Junior SCHOOLS All about the Principia Mission All about the Principia Mission

The British astronaut is getting DID YOU Tim Peake prepares for lift-off ready for the journey of a lifetime. KNOW? he British astronaut Tim Peake has dreamt of The Principia Mission was named after Ttravelling to space ever since he was a child. On Life on board the ISS is a bit Tuesday, 15 December, just after 11am, his childhood Isaac Newton’s famous different to back on Earth theories on physics, dream will become a reality. He will blast off on an . incredible six-hour journey that will take him 400km Philosophiae Naturalis above Earth to the International Space Station (ISS), Principia Mathematica becoming the first British astronaut ever to go there. USING THE TOILET The mission’s badge shows After months of preparation, the day has almost the number 46, as this is Astronauts have to strap the 46th mission arrived. Tim has said that this is “a proud moment for themselves down when they to the ISS. me”, and that he hopes it’s also “an inspiring moment use the toilet, to stop them from for my country”. floating away. The opening of Tim won’t be alone above the Earth. The American the toilet is only 10cm so they have to practise before they go What is the ISS? astronaut Timothy Kopra and the Russian astronaut to the ISS. A type of vacuum in Yuri Malenchenko will join Tim on the mission, which the toilet stops any spillage. has been named the Principia Mission. During the team’s six-month stay on the ISS they will conduct experiments that will improve our understanding of how humans can live in space. The man behind the mission

Astronauts began building the International Space Station in 1998, when the Russian space agency sent its first part up in a rocket. Since then, space agencies from the US, Europe, Japan and Canada have sent up 14 more modules and parts that EATING have been used to build the space station. Food on the ISS is similar to EXERCISING For the past 15 years, there have always been what we eat on Earth, but it Staying active while in space comes in special packages. is very important, as the people living on the ISS – although the same Tim Peake has been told by SLEEPING crew’s muscles will get weaker people haven’t been there the whole time. US other astronauts that food Crew members usually each have a due to a lack of gravity. To astronaut Scott Kelly, who will greet Tim and his private cabin in the ISS. Inside the loses its taste in space, so they prevent this from happening, crew when they arrive on the ISS, has been on sometimes use hot sauces to cabin is a sleeping bag that is tied astronauts exercise for two board since March 2015. spice up meals. to the wall. The astronauts simply hours every day, strapping zip themselves into the sleeping themselves onto treadmills The space station is the same size inside as bag and go to sleep. and cycling machines. a five-bedroom house and the same length as a football pitch. In fact, it’s so big that it can be seen l 1972 Tim was born in Chichester, in southern from Earth – it’s the third brightest thing in the England, on 7 April. night sky. It reaches speeds of around 28,000kph l 1992 He graduated from the Royal and orbits the Earth nearly 16 times a day. Military Academy Sandhurst. What will the crew do on the International Space Station? – l 1994–2009 During his army career he flew Experiments in zero gravity All in a day’s work helicopters. The crew have to look after Tim and the rest of the crew will l 2009 Tim applied to the European Space WOW! scientific experiments that have follow a normal routine on the ISS. Agency (ESA) and was accepted, beating Astronauts living aboard been sent up to the ISS by research They will get up every morning at 8,000 other applicants. He began institutes on Earth. These include 8am and carry out their scientific the ISS grow up to 3% taller 14 months of intensive training, including examining the effects of zero experiments before finishing work while living there. Scientists think practising space walks. gravity on metals that are heated at 6pm and hitting the exercise one reason is because l 2013 Tim was selected to go into space and and rapidly cooled. machines. They also have to keep the spine relaxes when training for the Principia Mission began. The crew will also conduct tests the space station clean and tidy. Tim it is not exposed to the ©THE WEEK JUNIOR, DENNIS PUBLISHING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. · l 2015 Tim travels to the ISS. on themselves. These experiments will spend Christmas Day on board pull of Earth’s gravity. l 2016 Tim will be “running“ the London will mostly look at the effects of Astronauts train for the ISS. He plans to tuck in to a bacon Tim has trained for years The astronauts go back · NASA ESA Marathon on a treadmill on the ISS. weightlessness on the human body. space in special pools. sandwich and Christmas pudding. to prepare for his voyage. to their normal height

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