THIS morning he blasted off into space - but Major Tim Peake's dad reckons he was in more danger driving the M27 every day.

The astronaut today become the first Briton to serve a mission on the International Space Station and only the eighth Briton to go into space.

But his experience of driving the M27 each day stands him in good stead for his journey into orbit, says his family.

Speaking from the launch site in Kazakhstan, Nigel Peake, said: 'We're immensely proud. As you can imagine, it's quite surreal to think you're the father of an astronaut, especially a British astronaut.

'So we're very, very proud, and just a little bit over-awed by the whole operation. We're not worried at all. We've been following his training and know how thorough it is, so we don't have any fears.

'I'm more worried about him driving home on the M27. That's far more dangerous, believe me, than going up there.'

While 250 miles above the earth, Major Peake will be helping Southampton doctors to test a revolutionary device designed to detect life threatening conditions in thousands of people which could also help pave the way for missions to Mars.

Medical experts in Southampton have developed a brain pressure check that is currently part of a major study at Southampton General Hospital that could see it rolled out across the NHS.

However, it is also being used in space to see if it can help tackle space-related visual problems and sickness in astronauts.

The device detects life-threatening head injuries and infections through pressure changes in the ear without the need for surgery or spinal procedures.

The cerebral and cochlear fluid pressure (CCFP) analyser is one of 265 experiments and tests that Major Peake will be doing in his six-month mission for the European Space Agency.

Dr Robert Marchbanks, a consultant clinical scientist at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, pioneered the device and has been working with NASA and the UK Space Agency to find out if it can help to tackle space-related visual problems and sickness.

He said tests on astronauts suffering from visual disturbances that had not subsided when they returned to earth revealed raised pressure in their heads.

"NASA suspect this is due to a redistribution of bodily fluids towards the head and away from the feet in the absence of gravity,” he said.

"However, NASA feel this may only be part of the cause, hence the need for the experiment aboard the ISS.

"They don't yet know if the time spent in space makes a big difference to this but believe it might, which means long space missions would be most affected and that would threaten the long-term goal of reaching Mars due to the risk of deteriorating eyesight and impaired brain function."

The CCFP test involves a patient wearing headphones with an ear plug linked to a computer, enabling doctors to measure fluid pressure in the skull via a channel which links the inner ear with the brain.

As fluids in the ear and brain are connected, a change in pressure in the brain is reflected by a corresponding change in the ear.

Currently, this pressure can only be measured by drilling a hole through the skull to implant a pressure probe or a lumbar puncture, where a needle in the back penetrates fluid surrounding the spinal cord.