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The touching moment Tim Peake said goodbye to his children before going to space

At 11.03am on Tuesday morning, Tim Peake made history as he blasted off to become the first British astronaut to go to the International Space Station (ISS).

The 43-year-old's journey began at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, alongside Nasa's Tim Kopra and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko.

But before setting off, Tim had one final farewell with his two young sons - and gave them a hopeful thumbs up.

Pictures: Getty

Ahead of the launch, Tim signed off with one final tweet - and seemed pretty damn excited about what was ahead:

"I want to go with Daddy", 4-year-old-son Oliver said through tears as the family waved goodbye.

Good luck, Tim!

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