The Soyuz spacecraft that will take British astronaut Tim Peake into space has been rolled out to its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Mr Peake will become the first British astronaut to travel to, and live on board, the International Space Station (ISS) when he starts his six-month mission on Tuesday.
He will travel with NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko to the ISS and carry out a series of experiments for the European Space Agency, as well as running science projects designed by school children.
The crew's mission is titled Principia, after Isaac Newton's ground-breaking Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which describes the principal laws of motion and gravity.
With just two days to go until lift-off, Mr Peake has taken to social media to give updates on his upcoming trip revealing that he will be watching the new Star Wars film on board the ISS.
He has also been enjoying tweets of support - including from '80s pop band Duran Duran.
The group tweeted: "Lots of luck to you - looking forward to following your progress in space."
The astronaut responded by saying: "How cool? A message from the awesome @duranduran - thanks guys!! Escaping #PlanetEarth shortly #spacerocks."
The ISS is a laboratory in which an international crew of six people live and work while travelling at a speed of five miles per second, orbiting Earth every 90 minutes.
It was launched in 1998 and has been continuously occupied since November 2000. In that time, more than 200 people from 15 countries have visited.
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