Tim Peake heading to the ISS countdown....

[megletthesecond]

Almost time for lift off...

Weather permitting the ISS should be visible over the UK tomorrow evening too. We'll give him a wave from the garden.

3m away!

The NASA broadcast is really interesting!

www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Contact has been made!

Tim Peake's family, absolutely, Draylon, had me a little misty-eyed.

We didn't get to watch it live but showed our Y2s the launch this afternoon. They loved watching it and wanted to know so much more. Ended up spending time watching some of Chris Hadfield's videos on You Tube - they loved watching how they eat, drink, clean teeth, etc.

I am now home late after a hairdresser's appointment so catching up with a pre recorded Stargazing Live.

His little boy yelling "bye daddy!"

I was discussing iss with dc. What happens if they are ill?
Obv they will have basic medical training.
But what about appendicitis?

I had a brainwave. They must all have their healthy appendix out beforehand.

Is this the standard procedure or am I a genius who needs to contact NASA?

No, they keep their appendix, because the operation can actually cause adhesions and abdominal pain (rarely, but better to avoid an operation). Chris Hadfield had to have an operation to separate some adhesions before he was allowed up after an episode of abdo pain.

If there is an emergency, the sick astronaut and their crew mates would return home. What I am not sure about is whether the fit ones then head straight back round to the ISS or if that is their trip finished.

(I know all of this because I had exactly the same question just a few weeks ago!)

www.anesthesiologynews.com/ViewArticle.aspx?d_id=8&a_id=14161

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3310768/

Right.

I need to contact NASA.

There was an arctic explorer who had to cut his own appendix out, now the australians all have theirs removed, does anyone have any more info about this? So I assumed it would be the same for the astronauts, interesting that it isn't.

Here, an amazing story. www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32481442

Super excited for the spacewalk later. I managed to catch the ISS at 7.28 this morning, and wave furiously.

Checking in!