Ceremonial book signing

ESA astronaut Tim Peake signs a ceremonial book at the Gagarin Museum in Star City, Russia. Tim and fellow Expedition 46-47 crew members NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra (right) and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko (centre) visited the museum on 23 November as part of the traditional ceremonies before launch to the International Space Station. In the back row are backup crewmembers Kate Rubins (NASA), Anatoly Ivanishin (Roscosmos) and Takuya Onishi (JAXA).

On 15 December, Tim, Yuri and Timothy are scheduled to liftoff from Baikonur Cosmodrome and make the journey to the International Space Station where they will stay until June 2016.

Tim's mission is named Principia, after Isaac Newton’s ground-breaking Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which describes the principal laws of motion and gravity. He will perform more than 30 scientific experiments for ESA and take part in numerous others from ESA’s international partners.

ESA and the UK Space Agency have partnered to develop many exciting educational activities around the Principia mission, aimed at sparking the interest of young children in science and space.

Connect with Tim on social media at: timpeake.esa.int

Follow the Principia mission at: www.esa.int/principia