At a press conference in London this morning (Monday, 20 May) ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain will officially name the first official British astronaut to undertake a space mission for 20 years.
Major Tim Peake, Britain's first ESA astronaut, became eligible for space missions in 2010 after completing more than a year of intensive training with the European Space Agency (ESA).
Peake, a former army helicopter test pilot from Chichester, England, was one of six other astronauts selected from across Europe in 2009.
The first place aboard a Russian Soyuz for launch this spring went to an Italian astronaut and it was widely expected that Britain’s astronaut would have to wait until 2017 for a ride into space.
