FRIENDS and former colleagues of astronaut Tim Peake gathered at the Aviation Flying Centre in Middle Wallop this morning to watch the live rocket launch of the mission to the International Space Station.

Major Peake, 43, who did his pilot’s training at Middle Wallop in the early nineties, later becoming an Apache helicopter instructor there, is the first British astronaut to be sent on a mission to the ISS, and is also the first fully British professional astronaut.

Lt Col David Amlot who served with Tim at Sandhurst and has been friends with him for 24 years said: “He’s got a wicked sense of humour and is a great practical joker but is also incredibly driven and focused.

Throughout his military career, there was Tim and then there was the rest of us.

“If somebody had said to me think of someone in the Army Air Corps that has just been selected for astronaut training, I would have named him.

“He was competing with those across Europe and it was absolutely fantastic he was chosen.”

Maj Peake met his wife Rebecca, a captain in the Royal Logistic Corps, while based in Germany and the couple lived in Larkhill after getting married while Tim worked as a test pilot at Boscombe Down from 2006 until he left the army in 2008/9.

Family friend Lindsay Shaw whose seven-year-old son Ben is the godson of Tim and Rebecca said: “I’m really excited for him – the rocket has a great track record and it will be fine.

I now want to see him float around in space.

“He really is chilled about it, very calm and collected.

“He will be sad to leave his family – he loves his boys and his wife and is a real family man. His wife Rebecca is very supportive.”

Commandant Jon Bryant said: “There is an immense amount of support and there is a huge amount of pride among those who know Tim personally and professionally, and we all wish him well.

“We are proud of the fact he is an army aviator and that he won that impressive selection process and we are delighted to see the progress he has made since.”

Maj Peake is employed by the European Space Agency and is on a six-month mission.

He lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11.03am on this morning. After six-and-a-half hours, their capsule successfully docked with the ISS.

He has been training for six years to become an astronaut with time spent in Germany, Japan, Canada, Russia and the US.